A River's Legacy
by Citrine Nebulae
Summary: Several years after the Kira case, four of the world's greatest minds battle it out all within a ten mile radius of each other. Between the strict anonymity, Near's lack of a successor, and a new Kira, it's likely to be anarchy. T for language. Utter crap, in the process of being rewritten
1. Prologue

**Ollo! I'm not as happy with this prologue as I could be, but that's okay. I think it conveys the conflict well enough. If you don't like the prologue…try out the next chapter. That's not as convincing as I could be, but it's the truth. The following chapters are way better than this prologue could ever be.**

* * *

"_We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy …" –David Brower_

* * *

The expansive room was half cast in darkness. A wall of monitors blinked and whirred, giving off a haze of blue that illuminated a soft circle, shining off the towers of dice and giving them a pearly glow.

The towers of dice resembled skyscrapers. Each tower had its own number – the one that was half done had all the fours turned out. They were extremely large: the small, squat one was easily eight feet tall, and the skinny ones pierced even higher. They were arranged in what looked like a city block, with narrow, elevated tracks running between them.

In the midst of all this, a boy sat with his leg tucked up to his chest, patiently adding to the towers, stacking dice higher and higher. They clicked as he gently placed them. _Click, click_. He stared at his progress with the utmost of seriousness, twirling the ends of his stark white hair. He reached to his side and picked up more from the large pile. _Click, click._

He didn't cease, even as a monitor flickered from blue to the image of an old man.

"Near." The voice came from the monitor.

"What is it, Roger?" Near asked. _Click, click._

"I have the results you requested. It would seem.." Roger hesitated.

"Yes?"

"It's going quite badly. I've run through them several times, but as far as I can see, there's nothing."

Near paused, the die halfway to the tower.

"I see," he said, recovering. He resumed stacking. _Click, click._

"Near," Roger started. He grimaced and took his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I don't know how this is going to work. I know you sent me here to try and sort it out, but I'm at a loss. Perha-"

"Roger," Near interrupted. "I've already thought it over. I've decided that I will need to come there myself. Could you schedule a flight for me? Get the earliest one. And I'll also need transportation to the airport. "

Roger replaced his glasses and nodded. "Of course. " The screen blinked out.

Near drew his hand back from the tower and set a die down. He frowned, visibly perturbed. In truth, he had hoped it wouldn't come to any sort of difficulty. But it seemed as though his involvement would be necessary. After all…

He composed his face once more, and then put the last die into place. _Click_. He picked up a toy train from the floor and set it on the tracks that wound through the buildings. He flipped a small switch on the side and, with a small growling noise, it started to run its course around the skyscraper towers. Near readjusted his simple, overlarge white shirt which had begun to sag down across his shoulder and stood.

He walked over to a desk beneath the wall of monitors and gathered up his toys, gently lowering them into his pockets. He tucked his stuffed sheep into the crook of his arm with care. He skirted around the towers (that, even with the half a head of height he had gained in the last four years, dwarfed him) and shuffled to the nondescript door on the dark edges of the room. He pulled it open, careful not to let any harm come to the sheep plush, and then glanced back at the train's progress.

It chugged around the corner of a corner, up an incline, and continued on its way to a crash course with the steeple of a skyscraper. He waited in the half open door, and, a few seconds later, the train collided with the tower. Dice cascaded downwards, upsetting the other towers and flooding the floor. Near twirled his hair and shut the door against the sea of thousands of dice.

He made his way down to where the car sent by Roger was waiting, and allowed himself to ponder his situation.

After all, L hadn't had the same problem that Near was now faced with. Between himself and Mello, L had contentedly acknowledged his legacy. But Near…

It had been four years since the end of the Kira case, nine since L's death. Even though Near hadn't changed, things had. With the new generation at Wammy's, Near was forced to feel worry.

Near had no successor.


	2. Number One

Jasper grinned, bit down on his toothpick and tipped back in his chair. Alpine was looking furiously in his direction. The other students filed out of the classroom, on the way to dinner.

"You know," she spat, "if I were you, I'd be a little more concerned about this. You're so arrogant. You think you're already Near, but you're not."

"I am very concerned. I just have different ways of showing it," Jasper said, lifting his face up and closing his eyes, just to spite her further.

As far as Jasper was concerned, Alpine was apeshit. She was always angry about something, wound as tight as a spring. She wanted to be Near more than anyone else on the planet. She thought of anything else as mud on her shoe, an annoying obstacle on her quest to become his number one successor. That's probably why she hated Jasper so much.

Jasper was currently first in line to becoming Near's successor.

"Yeah, right," she said. "You wait until tomorrow, when rankings go up again. I know I did well on those last exams. You won't be so cool when I'm beating you."

Jasper allowed his Cheshire grin to melt into a simple, patronizing smile.

"Please. You go ahead and believe that. Just know that I could give less than a shit about being number one." He swiped his bangs back.

"You're only saying that because you're not so confident this time around. I saw you while you were taking the exams. You were so distraught you were practically eating your pencil," she hissed.

Jasper opened his eyes and looked at her disdainfully.

"I was trying to decide whether to represent my caricature of you as concussed or just regular-stupid." He smirked when she scowled. "I drew it in for the essay question."

"You-" she was cut off by Roger, who had appeared beside her desk.

"Ms. Alpine," he said. She snapped her mouth shut and arranged her eyebrows in a more pleasurable manner before turning to face him.

"Sir?"

Roger gave her a look, and her shoulders slumped some. Jasper felt the smallest bit sorry for her. She wasn't able to control her temper, and always got caught looking like a criminal.

"Sorry, Roger," Jasper interjected, giving him a winning smile. "I was just chatting with Ms. Alpine about the present Miss USA pageant. I am afraid that she doesn't set much store in traditional evening gowns. She prefers a nice slit skirt and I told her that it makes Ms. New Jersey look like she's trying way too hard. Everyone knows she was an FBI agent with a gun stuffed up her-" Roger waved to interrupt him but Jasper was quick to change topics.

"I know, right? Anyways, Ms. Alpine and I were just going to go up to the library together. We have some studying to do before the exam results are posted. Come on, Ms. Alpine!" Jasper slung an arm across a startled Alpine's shoulders and started to pull her out of her desk.

"Mr. Jasper," Roger cut in. "Sit down."

Jasper sighed theatrically and withdrew his arm from Alpine, who had just slightly started to smoke at the nostrils.

"I'm afraid our trip to the library must be postponed, Ms. Alpine." He flicked his toothpick to the corner of his mouth with his tongue. Alpine gave him a disgusted look and turned away from him, looking straight ahead. "Yes, Roger?"

Roger cleared his throat. "I'd like to speak with you about something rather important. So, if you could join me in my office…" Alpine shot a look at Roger, who didn't look down at her.

"Aha!" Jasper sat up very straight in his chair. "Of course! My pleasure, sir!" He stood up and, with a flourish, bowed deeply. He pulled his toothpick out of his mouth and swept it into the bow, like one might do with their hat. "Mademoiselle." He nodded at Alpine, who tossed her head, then straightened up.

"We go sir?" Jasper said, making towards the door. Roger sighed and started to leave. Jasper fell in behind him, marching in a goosestep.

* * *

Once in Roger's office, Jasper plopped down into the chair in front of the desk and swept his purple bangs out of his eyes.

His hair wasn't solid purple – he had learned to be discreet with his appearance. But he couldn't resist unnatural hair dye. Psychedelic purple was mixed into his raven hair. He had dark blue eyes, which, if he did think so himself, were pleasantly alight with a mischievous intelligence.

Roger lowered himself into his chair and steepled his hands.

"I don't know how to get you to recognize the significance of what I'm about to say. You obviously have priorities to sort out. In the few months you've been here, you've not once impressed me with any socially decent attributes."

Jasper leaned forward in mock anxiousness.

"Gee, I was actually going to try to listen sincerely, but now that I know what you think of me…" Roger looked at him over his hands and Jasper nodded seriously at him.

"Near is coming here, to Wammy's House." Jasper's jaw dropped and he made his eyes bug out.

"I see why you didn't invite Ms. Alpine. She's going to have kittens!" Roger looked at Jasper sternly. Jasper leaned back and abandoned the theatrics. He sunk down in his chair until his nose was level with his knees.

"And, where was the aforementioned significance in that statement? Could you point it out?"

Roger dropped his hands onto his desk and adjusted some paperwork.

"Currently, you are the only eligible successor to Near. Your scores are parallel to that of Near's when he was a student here. Ms. Alpine may be second, but she and the rest of your classmates are still several steps behind you. That being said, we find ourselves in a desperate position. You clearly have shown no serious commitment in being Near's successor. Your chronic bad attitude is proof enough. But it's a situation. If we can't rely on you to succeed Near, then the name of both L and Near is doomed." Roger looked imploringly at Jasper.

"What does that have to do with Near coming? So he can swat my hand in person? Bad, bad Jasper, not wanting to be Near." Jasper said.

"Near is coming for the express purpose of reforming the students here. He thinks that with direct involvement, there will be more hope for an adequate replacement."

Jasper thought for a moment.

"So the only thing between the name of Near and the purpose of Wammy's House collapsing is my attitude? And if I decided that I want to be Near after all, everything will be okie-dokie again?"

"Technically, yes. But either way, Near will be coming because this orphanage cannot continue like it is. I think that with his efforts, you will find yourself in competition for the position of number one."

"Are you trying to threaten my ego? I'm not really worried about Alpine getting some direct tutoring from Near." Jasper inspected his toothpick.

"As I've said, Near coming here is not about you. He's trying to improve Wammy's House students for years to come." Roger pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and looked at it.

"That's rude. We're having a conversation. Even if it is about how terrible of a person I am, and how stupid the students here have gotten."

Roger turned off the phone and replaced it in his pocket.

"Near will be arriving within the hour. He will likely address the students tomorrow morning. I expect, however, that he'll want to have words with you."

"There's nothing I'd like more, but I promised Ms. Alpine I'd go to the library with her."

Roger massaged his temple.

"You should go join your classmates for dinner. Try not to terrorize anyone tonight. I have enough to deal with for tonight."

"Aye aye, captain." Jasper saluted poorly, and slid out of the chair.

* * *

The instant Jasper walked into the cafeteria, Alpine had appeared at his side. She hated his guts, but he had intel that she wanted.

"Hello, Ms. Alpine."

"Shut up and tell me what he said."

Jasper smiled sardonically and grabbed a tray of pudding. He took his time selecting another, and another, and another until his hands were full of precariously stacked treats.

"Mind grabbing me a few more puddings?" he asked.

She seized some and followed him over to a table. Jasper tipped a kid out of his chair by the window and set his pudding down. Alpine put the pudding down by the others and slid into the other chair. The kid who had been forcefully vacated from Jasper's commandeered seat brushed himself off and went to get a new tray, with hardly a backwards glance.

Jasper tucked his toothpick behind his ear. He spooned some pudding into his mouth and closed his eyes. It was partially in ecstasy of the chocolatey goodness, partially to keep Alpine hanging.

He opened his eyes and watched Alpine in his peripheral vision. She was leaning forward with her forearms on the table. Her burnished gold hair hung over her shoulders, and swept down side of her face. Her brown eyes were manic, and she managed to hide her hatred from him for the sake of his valuable information.

Jasper licked his spoon once.

"Near's coming to Wammy's House."

A solid punch connected with his arm, and he was actually surprised for a moment. It hurt. He jerked away from Alpine. "What?"

"Don't lie to me," she snarled. "Cut the shit and tell me what Roger said. Was it about the rankings? I'm beating you, aren't I? You failed horribly. Admit it."

"I'm not lying." Jasper rolled his eyes at her. "Near is coming to Wammy's House. He's probably here right now, if I think about it. How long has it been since I left?" The last part was rhetorical. He knew exactly how long it had been. _Seventeen minutes and fourty-t…_

"Seventeen minutes and forty two seconds," Alpine said instantly. Jasper looked at her, unsurprised. He didn't hate Alpine. She was plenty smart. He just lived to argue with her. She was the most fun at Wammy's House.

"So, you're serious? Near's coming?" She looked hopeful. Jasper nodded at her.

She let out a short, unbelieving laugh, and then her eyes brightened.

She shoved her chair out from under the table and stood up. Jasper watched her warily with his spoon dangling out of his mouth, anticipating another punch. "I'm going to go check." She sprinted out of the cafeteria, shouting as she left, "Thanks, asshole! I owe you one!"

Jasper took the spoon out of his mouth thoughtfully. _Women._


	3. Near

There was a knock on Jasper's door, and before he could respond, a head popped in. Jasper was lying flat on his bed, and sat up immediately. Stupid people came in his room without permission. Smart people didn't come anywhere near his room in the first place.

It was Bentley. Jasper was so surprised at his boldness that his toothpick fell out of his mouth and onto the wood floor.

Bentley was a mousy, skittish boy with messy hair and glasses that were constantly falling off his face because obviously, glasses' frames don't come in the size "teensy tiny." He probably couldn't tip the scale at 60lbs soaking wet.

"What do you want?" Jasper said. He forgot to inject the proper dosage of venom into his voice.

Nevertheless, Bentley cringed some. "Sorry, sorry. But Roger told me that if you don't get to his office right now, he'll bolt your window shut. And also, he stole your goldfish." Jasper shot a look to the bowl that sat on his bookshelf. Sure enough, Mello the goldfish was missing.

"I don't respond to threats," Jasper said menacingly. But he was very concerned for the wellbeing of Mello. Bentley was slowly inching out the door. Not to leave though. It looked like he was trying to use it as a shield against Jasper.

"If it's some incentive, he told me that if I didn't get you, he'd take away pudding for the next month. For just us two. And he'd make us watch everyone else eat it."

"If I were Roger, I would've picked someone who had a better chance at saving their pudding. If I wasn't willing to come, you'd be pudding-less, Mr. Bentley. Tell Roger I'm coming. You can go." Bentley looked doubtful, but left.

Immediately, Jasper crouched at the foot of his bed and picked up his fallen toothpick. He cradled it close to his chest.

"I am so sorry," he rocked back and forth. He held it up in front of him and blew dust off of it. "You poor child, Uncle Jasper is so sorry he dropped you." Jasper cooed and nursed the toothpick for a few seconds until he was content that it forgave him, and then he gave it one last pat and clenched it between his teeth again.

Then he walked over to the phantom Mello the goldfish. He ran a finger over the rim of the bowl.

"I will save you, Mello!" He tucked a cushion around it to keep it warm for Mello, and then ran out of the room.

* * *

Outside of Roger's office, he paused and looked at his reflection in the presentation case. He bared his teeth various ways, and set his eyebrows down – no. Then up? No. He glared at himself, deciding how much to pull his lips away from his teeth. He narrowed his eyes, and then carefully placed his bangs over one, hiding it. Pleased with the effect, he focused on keeping them plastered to his face as he eased his way over to the door, trying to keep himself in sight of his reflection as long as possible so he could be sure his face was correct. He rolled his shoulders and placed one hand on the center of the door, and the other slowly turning the knob. When it was completely turned, he took a deep breath, thought of the captive Mello and pushed as hard as he could.

The door slammed open and he charged into Roger's office with his features a mask of anger.

"What have you done with Mello? I'll kill you!" He heaved out his breath in great gasps, and while Roger was preoccupied with his entrance, his gaze darted over to the wall of bookshelves.

An odd boy sat on the floor, playing with what looked like a white Rubix cube. It was nearly complete – each side looked like a certain letter. Jasper could see a nearly complete N from where he stood. The boy was a splash of white against the dark bound books in Roger's bookshelf. He had hair like moonfloss, and porcelain pale skin. He wore a large shirt and simple pants, both pure white. He didn't even look up when Jasper entered. Just sat there and kept turning the Rubix cube methodically.

Beside him, on the floor, was Mello the goldfish. He floated serenely in a small container of water. Jasper hoped it was distilled.

Roger started to speak, but Jasper wasn't finished yelling.

"If you had to fishnap him, you should've just taken the entire bowl! Mello is ill! He has a history of ailments! A bad heart! I wouldn't be surprised if you tweezed him out with rusty secateurs, you heartless old-,"

"This is Jasper, Roger?" The voice was slow and androgynous. It was touched with amusement. It came from the boy.

"Yah," Jasper said before Roger could speak. "I be him."

The boy didn't look up from his Rubix cube.

"Your 'Mello' is safe. He's been keeping me company." Jasper couldn't deny the boy looked like he needed company. With this thing called the sun.

"I once had an acquaintance named Mello," the boy continued. He finished the Rubix cube and turned it over in his hands. A black letter on each side – N, M, W, L, and another M. The last side was just white. The boy tucked it into his pocket and pulled out a small rectangle in white paper. "I assume you know who he is." It was a chocolate bar. He broke it in half and offered it to Jasper. He sat the other half on top of the container with Mello in it.

"Yes," Jasper said warily, taking the procured chocolate.

"Why did you name the fish Mello?" Near inquired shrewdly.

Jasper considered his answer.

"Because I think I'm a lot like Mello."

He put the chocolate bar between his teeth and took a huge bite. It was pretty heavy-duty chocolate, Jasper noted. _Snap. _

The boy lifted his eyes to Jasper at the sound.

"Mello wanted to succeed L more than anyone on the planet."

His dark eyes bored into Jasper's own.

"I'm aware," Jasper said calmly.

The boy stared at Jasper for a few seconds, and then appeared to lose interest. He pulled something out of his pocket and cupped it in his hands so Jasper couldn't see.

"I'm Near," he said, his eyes still on the object in his hands.

Jasper nodded like this was no surprise, and sauntered over to Roger's desk. He leaned a hip against the edge and Roger glanced at him.

"You're five feet tall," Jasper said. "And you are also Near. Both are evident." Near smiled and made an amused sound, but it was small and soft and wasn't able to convey any genuine emotion.

"I am five feet, four inches tall."

Jasper laughed out loud. Maybe he had met his intellect match here at Wammy's House.

"Okay, five-four," Jasper corrected himself. "How old does that make you? Thirteen?" A low guess on purpose.

"Twenty-two."

Ho-geez. Jasper's eyebrows disappeared into his vivid bangs. He had known Near was a lot older than he looked, but wow.

"So you were eighteen when you solved the Kira case. That made you about thirteen when you became L," Jasper mused. "You're a little late though. I'm fourteen. And five-seven." He threw the last part in for fun.

Near smirked. "I know."

Jasper clucked his tongue and adopted a sing-song voice. "We're both soooo smart!"

"You don't want to be a successor," Near said, unaffected by Jasper's singing. "So why do you take the effort to score number one on all the exams?"

Jasper looked earnest. "I don't. I drew a picture of a gorilla in a tutu trying to solve a simple addition problem. I labeled it anatomically, albeit inappropriately, and named it Alpine. Speaking of which, Roger, did I get points for that? My overall test results didn't specify." Roger ignored him and waited for Near to continue.

"Roger," Near said, busily adjusting the thing in his hand. "I will address the students tomorrow. See that they're assembled in the library by ten o'clock."

"Certainly. Will you be wanting to broadcast from your room or-?"

"No. I intend to speak to them in person. That is why I came." Near lifted his hands from his lap and Jasper could see what he had been working on.

On his right hand, there were two small puppets that rested on the tips of his fingers. One was blonde, dressed in black, with half of its face marred by a scar. The other was snow-white, and resembled Near in the clothes he was currently wearing.

On his left hand, there was a single puppet. It had black hair and purple highlights. It wore jeans like Jasper's and the same shirt and purple scarf that he had on now. On its ear was a single stud earring. A royal purple dahlia.

Jasper reached up and touched his own earring.

"Jasper, you are respectfully dismissed." Near gestured toward the door with the Jasper-puppet finger. Jasper looked annoyed.

"I'm free to take my fish, correct?" Jasper sneered and crossed the room to Near. He reached down and plucked the candy bar off the top. Near didn't move to take it from him.

"Keep it," he said, adjusting the blonde puppet. "I'm working on being more generous."

Perplexed, Jasper gathered Mello and the chocolate bar up carefully. Mello swam around, happily back in Jasper's arms.

He started out of the office, catching a glimpse of Near reaching up to twist the ends of his hair, before shutting the door.


	4. Sneaking Out

A few kids dawdled in the hallways. Curfew was in five minutes. They looked at him oddly as he carried Mello back to his room. He walked slowly and kept the container level with his face, trying not to upset the water. He glared at each one of them as he passed, daring them to speak.

When he made it back to his room, he tipped Mello into his proper home, then opened the window (which Roger hadn't bolted after all) and dumped the other water out. It splashed on the roof, wetting his sleeves, and then rolled down towards the lawn. He stepped back and tossed the container to the side.

He took his toothpick out of his mouth and placed it on his bedside table. Then he dropped facedown on his bed and proceeded to try to smother himself.

When that didn't work, he grabbed his toothpick and bit angrily on it, stood up and started to pace agitatedly. He kicked a textbook into the corner.

"He's such a twit. '_Look at me, I'm Near. I'm so smart and I can sit on the ground and solve a white Rubix cube and I have a freaky little puppet of poor, dumb Jasper that I made before I even met him because Roger's my bitch and I had him spy on him for me.'" _Jasper snorted derisively. "And that's not even mentioning that fucking bar of chocolate. Trying to be generous? Yeah right. I'd like to stuff his stupid white head into a fireplace. The soot would get in his freaky hair and he'd have some kind of complex."

Jasper ranted and raged and destroyed his belongings until he was out of ways to insult Near. Breathing deeply, he seized a long coat from his bedpost and put it on. He needed to go out. And he knew exactly what he was going to do. He shoved his feet into boots and stood up. He was just about to squirm out the window when his door opened.

Alpine swept in, ignoring the ruins that carpeted the floor.

Jasper froze guiltily. He didn't think Alpine would keep his sneaking out a secret. He managed to pass it off as him trying to kick the lock on his window into place as she crossed over to him.

"Knock much?" he asked. She didn't respond and jabbed him in the shoulder.

"You're such a liar. I watched the entrances to Wammy's House for a two full hours and there was no Near. He's not here."

Jasper shrugged. He didn't feel like making up some kind of excuse. She'd find out in the morning. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"So you admit you did lie," she said nastily. "I guess I should have expected it from someone like you. You make me sick, prancing around like you've got a 'I'm Mr. Number One' sticker on your forehead. You're such a jerk to everyone here. They're all afraid of you because you can't get kicked out because of yours scores, so you're free to beat them up if they so much as look at you."

Suddenly Jasper's own temper flared.

"What about you? When it comes to succession, you're the bitchiest person I've ever met. You'd be so much worse than you think I am if you were 'Number One.' You know what? I just met Near and I'm honestly surprised how similar you two are. You'll get along swimmingly, side by side, treating other people like a speck in your perfect world."

Her eyes narrowed and her first barreled into Jasper's solar plexus. His breath whooshed out and he grabbed her shoulder, viciously twisting her away from him. He seized her wrist, bringing her arm upward around her back. Her elbow bent and Jasper locked her there, holding most her weight with her back to him and her legs scrambling to find purchase.

"You're both condescending little shits, and that's all," he managed to hiss with broken breath. He heard her growl. She planted a foot and her other leg swung. A kick landed itself between his shoulder blades. He coughed with surprise and pain, and she ripped herself away from him, clutching her injured arm.

From the way she held it, he could tell it would seriously hurt in the morning. Her ego wouldn't be far behind.

She gave him a nuclear glare, then ran out the door.

Jasper hooked the door with his foot and kicked, slamming it hard. He gave a roar of outrage that he'd been withholding even during his earlier episode.

Mello swam in a circle, looking uninterested. Jasper crossed over to him and dumped some fish food in, enough for tonight and tomorrow.

He'd be out all night.

He readjusted his coat and scarf, grimacing as he felt Alpine's kick for the second time.

Jasper unlocked his window (with difficulty – when he kicked it earlier, he had jammed it quite badly) and boosted himself out.

The roof under his window was well worn, not to mention wet from the fish water, from his many excursions. Roger's threat to bolt his window proved that he knew. Which, now that Jasper thought about it (what a sorry excuse for a genius he was), meant he was probably being monitored. And if that was true, Near now had access to it. And could be watching him now.

It pissed Jasper off, how little freedom he had. But all the more reason to stay out and miss Near's stupid club meeting. Show him what he thinks of the name of Near.

Besides, there was someone he had to go meet.

Jasper smiled widely so the cameras that were undoubtedly present could catch it.


	5. Anne Frank in the Attic

Evening had melted into utter blackness by the time he had reached town. He slipped into an alleyway and followed the labyrinth until he reached a familiar ladder on a fire escape. Jasper stood on a trashcan to reach it. He climbed past the boarded up windows. Glass shards still clung to the edges and the whole building had a derelict feel.

On the roof, he jogged to a small shed and opened the door. It was dim inside, but he was able to make out the strategically placed pile of crates. He pushed them to the side and reached down to grab the top of a trapdoor. Ignoring the rungs of a ladder, he dropped through, yelling, "Hey, Anne Frank!"

He landed with his knees bent, and stood up proudly, throwing his arms wide. Looked around. There was no one in sight. Muttering to himself, he adjusted his pants leg and walked further into the room.

"Anne Frank?" There was no one in the makeshift kitchenette or the cobbled together assortment of furniture that passed as a living room. Past a half collapsed cement wall was a line of arcade games. Normally that's where Anne Frank was, but they were unoccupied.

He walked into a room at the end of a partially concealed hallway. He stepped carefully over a door that had fallen off its hinges and lay on its side, wedged in the doorway. The only thing in the room was a bare mattress.

"There you are."

The voice came from Jasper's right. He peeked into the open closet and saw a white glow on the overhead rack. It illuminated a small human form.

"Hey, Anne," Jasper spoke to it. "What are you doing in the closet? Isn't the secret attic enough?" The white glow disappeared and the form disappeared with the darkness. He heard a thump on the ground in front of him.

"You tell that joke every time you come here, James. It's really old and insensitive."

She was the only person who knew his real name. To everyone else, he was Jasper.

The person stepped out of the shadows.

She was quite small for her age. She wore a black sweatshirt that swamped her and plain athletic shorts that made her legs look like sticks. She reached up with the hand not holding the laptop to adjust her ponytail. A purple dahlia earring flashed as she gathered the stray hairs, tucking them behind her ear.

"Not the same joke. You've never been in the closet before," he quipped.

"I've decided that it helps me think."

"Is that so? I guess I've seen weirder. Wammy's House is full of fruitcakes. Did you know that Alpine sometimes has to lie down on her back to figure something out? She did it right on the ground in the middle of our last exams."

"That stuck up Near-robot?"

"Yeah," he said. "But she can't really help it. She's been there for years. It's all she knows."

She sniffed, unconvinced.

"It's my job to hate her. Especially when you always come here nursing new bruises."

"I appreciate that, Anne."

"Stop calling me that," she said, grabbing his coat sleeve obstinately. She started to pull him out of the room. He grinned.

"Fine, Markel."

"Fine, James," she mimicked and released him. She bounded up the door and jumped off the other side.

In her living room, Markel boosted herself to sit on the back of the tattered couch. Jasper weaved his way through the minefield of crap strewn all over the place.

"I've changed my mind," Jasper said. "Your attic is less like the Secret Annex, and more like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle lair."

"Minus the sewer part, right?" she glanced at him then picked at her orange socks.

"Nope," he said, lifting his foot and looking at his boot. Yes, those were definitely little crawly things. He covertly wiped the foreign breeding ground sludge on a random throwrug. "It's definitely a passable sewer."

She scoffed and threw him a look.

"Yowza! You're reminding me of Alpine more every day!" Jasper said.

Markel's face wrinkled in disgust.

"Yuck."

Jasper laughed and joined her on her perch. She flipped her laptop open and skimmed a webpage.

"So you won't believe this," Jasper said.

"Oh?" Markel shut the laptop and tossed it onto the far couch. She flopped backwards so she lay on the center cushion with her knees hooked over the back of the couch.

"Yep." Jasper threw himself backwards as well.

"Oof," she said as she bounced slightly. She grinned. "This intriguing news?"

Jasper frowned, unsure of where to start.

"Well, Alpine punched me a few more times today." Markel sighed.

"I've told you – if you want me to take care of her, I've got all the equipment nice and unsanitary."

Jasper swatted her playfully, although at this angle, it was difficult.

"Please. You're just jealous because she gets to spend all day with me."

"Please," she imitated. "I'm too young for you, old man."

"Only by three years," Jasper turned his face to her and winked.

"Careful," she warned. "Now that you've pointed it out, I don't know if I'll be comfortable around you when we're alone like this."

Jasper chuckled as she grabbed his hand and threaded her fingers through his.

They lay there in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Speaking of which, I'll be sleeping here for tonight," Jasper said finally.

"After the conversation we just had?" she joked. "Should I be concerned?" Jasper didn't answer – just stared at the ceiling.

Markel squeezed his hand and spoke gently.

"What happened, James?"

His face set itself in serious lines. He brought her hand closer to him and enfolded it in his own, resting it on the bruise on his middle. The sofa cushion shifted slightly as she turned her head to look at him. He adjusted his toothpick absently.

"Near came to Wammy's House. I spoke with him earlier." He felt her hand tense in his. "He's here to talk to the kids. Inspired them, I guess. Encourage them to be good little brainwashed drones."

"I see."

Jasper blew out his breath to relieve the urge to start ranting again.

"Apparently the morals and meanings of Wammy's House are lacking. He's here to fix them."

A few seconds passed.

"Well, that's shit." Markel's voice was laced with disdain. "Morals? All they teach them there is to consider everyone an opponent in the goal to succeed Near. Individual identity is a no-no. Walk over the opposed. If you're not Near, you're just a loser."

"You missed some of the propaganda: If you can't win the game," Jasper paused significantly, "if you can't solve the puzzle..then you're just a loser."

Markel laughed without humor.

"I guess I'm just bitter. I'd rather live in the attic of an abandoned building, alone, an impersonal project of the town's middle school district then have to deal with that crap."

Jasper smiled in spite of himself.

"Me too. But as there are no attics in abandoned buildings available, and you've made it clear you've rather live _alone _…well, I'm obviously not invited. Wammy's House is all I've got."

Markel snorted and Jasper cracked up.

"With that in mind, have they figured you out? You're obviously more than the rebellious stuck up almost-Near," Markel said.

"Nah. I'm an excellent actor. Alpine hates me because I'm a jerk about being 'Number One'. And Roger would push me off a cliff himself. I've probably given him a fair amount of ulcers."

Markel smiled.

"We could make some progress after all."

Jasper nodded in agreement, and they lapsed into silence.

Almost immediately though, Jasper's shoulders began to shake with laughter.

"What?" Markel asked.

Jasper didn't respond – he was now howling with mirth.

He finally managed to choke out words a little at a time.

"They abducted…Mello…to get me to…show up…at Roger's office!" He withdrew his legs from the back of the sofa and tucked them into his chest as he rolled around laughing.

Markel looked stunned. Then she too broke up into giggles.

"If you can't steal the fish…" she wheezed.

"If you can't confiscate the pudding…" Jasper coughed.

"Then you're just a loser!" they exclaimed together.

They laughed for a long time before quieting.

Markel sighed contentedly, wiping tears off her cheeks.

"Jasper," she started.

"Hm?"

She paused and Jasper played with her last two fingers before holding her hand again.

She smiled and closed her eyes. With her other hand, she reached over and touched his dahlia earring. Then she drew back and fiddled with her own.

"Give 'em hell."

Jasper's lips turned upwards around his toothpick.

"Already do, love."

* * *

When Jasper woke up the next morning, he felt gloriously weightless. Near and Alpine's shit felt trivial after talking to Markel.

The sofa beside him was empty.

"Early riser," he called to her absence. He heard her laugh. Jasper stood and rolled his neck.

She appeared in the kitchenette, frothing at the mouth with toothpaste. Jasper cringed and looked away. She laughed again.

"Pansy," she said. "I forgot you hate that."

"My gag reflex hates it," he corrected.

She vanished into the bathroom off the kitchen.

"Don't forget mouthwash!" he called to her. He heard her spit into the sink and his skin crawled.

"Yes, Mother," she answered. "Want to remind me to bring eyeliner or toenail clippers? I live in an _attic. _

"What about school?" Jasper walked into the kitchen and grabbed a package of PopTarts.

"Nope. I'm a big fat skipper dipper, just like you."

He took a big bite of the PopTart and listened to the clattering sounds from the bathroom.

"The middle school can't be happy if you're skipping while they're paying for you to go."

"I'm just a community service project. If they get their hours, they're fine." She walked into the kitchen, her dark brown hair freshly braided and her dahlia earring in full view. Her shorts were exchanged for jeans.

"Do you know how terrible those are for you?" she said.

Jasper rolled his eyes and opened his mouth really wide so she had a clear view of the chewed gobs.

"You can do that," she said, unfazed, "but you can't even look in a mirror while you're brushing your own teeth?"

Jasper shrugged and swallowed his PopTart.

"You're the one who buys them. You do your own shopping. Which makes me wonder: why is everyone okay with the fact that you live in an attic?"

She scoffed.

"They don't. They think I live with a foster family, somewhere along Rainbow Road or McHappyton Street. I've managed to convince them of their existence." She smiled with satisfaction.

"Oh, I get it," he said. "You've also diverted enough electricity to run your lights from the poor unfortunate cupcake store owners who don't know why their bill is so high."

"Five points!" she cheered, slapping high fives with him. "I am a genius after all. So, Near is talking to the munchkin's at 10? It's 9 now. You can make it if you run."

"Yeah," Jasper said. "I sort of _do_ need to know what they say. Besides, they're probably crawling the walls already. I've never stayed out all night before."

"Make sure you tell Alpine it was with a beautiful girl," Markel suggested.

"Well, it was with a beautiful girl," Jasper grinned impishly. "Just not the way it sounds." Markel cackled and they slapped high fives again.

* * *

**Yeah. Sorry. The Anne Frank was a bit insensitive and pretty rude, I suppose. But..she lives in an attic. I'm sorry! /duck.**

**Reviews make me a happy camper. :)  
**


	6. Turnaround?

**Oh hell. Roger vs. Jasper! Near vs. Wammy's House! Hold on tight!**

**Think badass music. Here, I'll help. **

"**Corner Stone Cues – Ten Years Kashmir II"**

* * *

Jasper trudged back to Wammy's House. When he finally arrived at the gates, the guard looked at him ruefully.

"Got guts, kid. Roger's as pissed as a man his age can get."

Jasper shifted his toothpick and threw the guard his best _I'm a bad kid and whatever you just said didn't hold any significance to me _glare.

The guard laughed and opened the gate, waving him through.

As soon as Jasper walked inside, a harried looking student reluctantly intercepted him.

"Roger sa-," she began, but Jasper interrupted.

"-says to come to his office." He walked past the student, who reached up to check, that, after their brief confrontation, all her facial features were intact.

Jasper wound through the hallways, ignoring the furtive looks students on their way to the library were giving him.

He pushed the door to Roger's office open without knocking. The office was empty but for the old man, who was on the phone.

Jasper strode in and examined the office animatedly.

"Oh my," he said loudly. "Did you remodel in here?"

Roger kept talking on the phone but gestured fiercely for Jasper to take a seat. Jasper stayed standing, and wandered around the office. It looked the same as always.

"I say that because it feels like years since I've been in here. I guess my memory isn't as good as it used to be. I've sort of missed my visits."

Roger made some excuse into the phone and hung up.

"Sit down," he said tersely. Jasper dropped into the seat and put his fists on his knees.

"Thank you for not bolting my window, Roger. The breeze last night was fantastic."

Roger rubbed his brow.

"Wandering off the grounds without permission is strictly prohibited. Staying out at night would ordinarily constitute expulsion. Now -,"

"But you wouldn't kick me out, Roger? Even if I had done this thing called…how'd you put it? Staying out at night?" Jasper simpered and pasted on an innocent look.

Roger spoke loudly.

"Mr. Jasper, it is imperative you see the gravity of the situation. Now, please, for once in your life, _be silent."_

Jasper sneered and leaned back in his chair. Show time.

"Why should I do that, Roger? Haven't I made it plain that I don't care what you have to say? I'm going to conduct a little demonstration for you, okay?" Jasper dug through his pocket and found a few scraps of paper. He plucked a pen off of Roger's desk and pressed the paper against his knee to write.

"There," he said, holding up his work. Roger looked aghast, but recovered quickly.

On each of the bits of paper, he had boldly written the word SHIT.

"Now, Roger, listen closely. These are my shits. Are we clear? These are my shits, and look what is going to happen." He clutched them in his fist and held them close to his heart. "My shits go here. You know why? Because I'm keeping them from you. You don't get a single one of my shits. I have so many shits because _I don't give them away._ I don't give any shits. Do you understand, Roger?"

Roger's gaze on him darkened. He took a deep breath.

"I understand, Jasper. I've understood for a long time. Since the first day you came here. But I must ask you something." He paused and Jasper waited. "If you don't care, then why are you here? Why do we waste our education on you?"

Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"I can't tell you that, Roger. Honestly. It's a very big secret."

"So you have a legitimate reason? And it's in your interests? What about ours? Why should you attend Near's address to the students?"

Jasper thought seriously.

"I suppose…to get some perspective. I like to know both sides of the story." He reached up to touch his dahlia earring.

Roger looked into his eyes. Jasper dropped his hand and stared back, silently challenging.

At last, Roger leaned back. Did Jasper detect some satisfaction? Some approval in his eyes?

"I see," he said. "That's very…" He thought for a moment, then shook his head, giving up.

"You may go to the library with the students now."

"Cool." Jasper stuffed his hands into his pockets and meandered out of the office, Roger following him.

He almost bumped into Alpine. She was waiting outside of the door. The tide of students weaved around her. Her arm was in a sling.

"My," Jasper said, aware of Roger watching them. "What happened to your arm, Ms. Alpine?"

She raised her eyes to his.

"Tripped," she said mechanically, staring platonically at him. "Down the stairs."

Jasper gasped.

"The ones in the east wing? Roger," Jasper said, turning to him. "I've told you, we need rails on those stairs." Before Roger could speak, Jasper started walking purposefully. He merged in with the crowd of students, who automatically parted to give him a few feet of space.

* * *

The students packed the tables in the library. Several sat on the floor. Near was not present.

Jasper wandered to the back of the crowd and slid down against a bookshelf to sit. Alpine joined him. He looked at her oddly, but she didn't say anything.

The students were chatting among themselves. None of them knew what was going on. Jasper heard some odd theories. One kid had the audacity to whisper to another his hopes about Jasper's public banishment. Jasper kicked the leg of his chair and gave him a look. The boy yelped and ran to find a new seat. The boy who had been whispered to turned around quickly.

Jasper glanced at Alpine, who was scowling.

"See what I mean?"

"Proves nothing," Jasper said nonchalantly. "I was provoked."

She snorted and Jasper raised his eyebrow in annoyance.

"Well, I was," he said quietly, and tapped his earring to console himself.

Alpine noticed.

"What is that, anyways? I've always wondered."

"Woah. My brain matter is practically all over the room. Good job. For a second there, I thought you were being civil to me," his eyes widened.

She sighed but wasn't able to hit him.

"No, really," he said. "Just last night I actually physically hurt you. The proof is right there. And for some reason, now you're being nice to me. What is going on?"

She fidgeted.

"I dunno. I guess…I just hate thinking you might be right. What you said last night. It hit too close to home." She shrugged helplessly. There was something desperate about it, Jasper noticed. He felt a pang. He felt like she was emotionally upside down, holding onto her last threads. A seed of doubt was planted within her.

And of course, Jasper had nurtured the seed over the last few months.

"I'm sorry," Jasper intoned.

She looked surprised. Jasper snapped his mouth shut and mentally kicked himself. _Leave the deep shit for your talks with Markel. Alpine doesn't get to know you're undercover as an egotistical asshat. _

He stared resolutely ahead, trying to cover his emotions. Alpine shifted beside him.

"Holy shit. Who are the suits?" she said incredulously.

Jasper snapped himself out of his stupor and followed her gaze. The doors by the circulation desk were open, and in walked Roger, two men and a woman.

The men were tall. One had blonde slicked back hair and strong features. He looked to be in his mid-40s. The other was considerably younger – early thirties and good looking. He had black hair and light eyes.

The woman was holding the door open. She spoke urgently to someone who was out of view behind the doors. She had stick straight blonde hair and slanted amber eyes. She stepped away from the door and entered the library with the two men. The door closed behind her.

Roger led the trio to stand before the room full of students.

"Students," Roger said. "These people are here to speak to you about some very important things. This is Anthony Rester." He gestured to the blonde man, who nodded curtly. "Halle Lidner." The woman leaned against the circulation desk. "And Stephen Gevanni." The black haired man just ran his eyes over the students.

"They are a team of highly skilled investigators and agents that, four years ago, assisted in the identification and exposure of the mass murderer known as Kira," Roger continued. The students straightened up and whispered amongst themselves. "Normally, they operate under strict anonymity and multiple aliases. But the situation here calls for a more direct approach. And for that reason," Roger set his shoulders and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, "the current superdetective, who you all know as L's successor, Near, and a graduate of Wammy's House, has come here to speak to you all."

Alpine squeaked and clapped a hand over her mouth. The students acted in like – the girls gasped, and the boys started to talk animatedly among eachother. Jasper just leaned his head back against the bookshelf. He misjudged the distance and whacked his head. It hurt far more than he let on, but for a moment, in his expression of surprise and pain, he looked like the news about Near had gotten him as well.

When it quieted down, Roger nodded to Lidner. She stood up straight and walked purposefully towards the doors again. Before she got there, they cracked open and Near shuffled in. She looked surprise at his abrupt and independent appearance, but nothing compared to the Wammy's House kids. They howled with surprise and Alpine jumped so high she collided with Jasper's shoulder.

Jasper looked shocked at her reaction. When she landed, her eyes were shining feverishly and she clenched her hands at her sides.

It was very, very clear that she completely idolized him. Jasper supposed he hadn't truly thought about it, but he could practically feel the same adrenaline that she felt upon his arrival.

Too bad Near was a freak, and probably wouldn't ever speak a word to her.

In Near's hand was the white rubix cube. It was mixed up again.

Jasper watched as Near made his way towards the group of adults in the room. It was surreal to see him walk. Jasper felt like Near's ass should be permanently fixed to the floor. However, when he got there, he carefully lowered himself onto the floor, with a knee tucked into his chest. His eyes never left the rubix cube.

"Hello," Near said, in his quiet voice. He kept turning the rubix cube. "I'm Near."

The students watched him play with the rubix cube silently, awed.

Pur-leaaaaaaaaaaaaase.

The silence went on, until Rester fidgeted. He leaned down and whispered something to Near. Near responded quietly, then spoke to the room.

"It's good to meet all of you. I apologize for my lack of a scripted speech. I'm afraid I don't do public speaking very often." He smirked down at the rubix cube.

"All of you are part of a very important project that produces high achieving individuals. The highest among them being the one who succeeds the current title that I will refer to as our mentor, L. We are alike in the way that we owe everything to Quillish Wammy and L. However, in the past few months, I have been speaking with Roger about you, the current students of Wammy's House. It would seem that the name of our mentor L, is in danger of fading into history."

The students fidgeted uncomfortably and a few glances were directed at Jasper.

"I, and these people," Near looked up, nodding at the group of adults, "have decided that in order to preserve the ideals of justice, we will be taking a personal hand in the education prescribed at Wammy's House."

Alpine's breath caught in her throat and she leaned forward, afraid of missing a single word.

But it seemed that Near was done. He dropped his eyes again and continued to work on his rubix cube. It was now nearly complete.

Rester stepped forward.

"The three of us and Near, as Near said, are going to be directing a few select courses to reach the goal of excellence that will be required in the succession of Near. Myself, Gevanni, and Lidner will be handling the subjects of direct field work, and Near will direct a theoretical course. Both are required. From both, we will expect nothing short of your very best efforts." His gruff voice was professional, but it was clear that he was skeptical of the task at hand.

Gevanni and Lidner watched coolly from the sidelines. Near finished his rubix cube.

Roger covered the silence.

"The special courses start tomorrow. They will be difficult. They will be demanding. They are relevant. They will turn the institute around."

"No," Near said suddenly. "They will not. These courses will not turn the institute around." He looked up at the students directly for the first time. His dark eyes pierced through them and seemed to find Jasper and Alpine. Then they withdrew and simply looked at the students. "Make no mistake. This institution is in danger of collapsing. All of L and Quillish Wammy's work will be for nothing if it ends here. But these courses themselves will not turn the tides on our precarious situation. That is up to you." His eyes returned to the two.

He looked down again.

Roger cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Right. Yes, the courses start tomorrow. You are all dismissed."

Near and the others disappeared through the doors. The students were gathering up their things, getting ready to start their own classes.

Alpine shook beside Jasper. He looked at her, trying to figure out if she was going to spontaneously combust and if he should take cover.

"So, Near is going to be teaching us, starting tomorrow?" Her voice was carefully measured.

"Looks like it," Jasper said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. His brain felt stretched again. Maybe he'd skip classes today. "Along with those other three."

She made a huffing noise, and stood up.

"Are you in shock?" Jasper asked her. "We should elevate your feet."

"Oh, shut up," she said, but didn't sound like she really cared all that much. Definitely in shock.

"I guess we'll figure it out tomorrow. This is going to be weird." She walked off in a daze.

Very weird. Because now the students would be pressed into Near's succession. They'd all be herded towards it. Jasper would have them at his back. He might even be faced with some opposition.

That definitely didn't bode well. He reached up and touched his dahlia earring.

Things are about to get difficult.

* * *

**Okay. I promise I'll never try to sound formal or official again because I'm awful at it. Poor Rester, I'm so sorry I made you speak so stupidly. Near too. And…Roger. Sorry. **


	7. Breaking In

Jasper kicked the crates aside and yanked up the trapdoor. He dropped through, shouting for Markel.

She was sitting on the edge of an arcade machine. Her laptop was on her knees, but she was looking at the television.

"Near and these super-duper secret spy guys are going to be teaching classes. They start tomorrow so I don't know much, but…" he trailed off. She hadn't looked away from the television.

"What?" he asked tentatively. She spoke, never moving her eyes.

"Three middle school students died of heart attacks today. In the cafeteria. I saw it. It hasn't been reported yet." She nodded towards the television. A McHandsomestein blonde news anchor with a huge chin was giving them a smolder.

Jasper felt like he'd been struck. His ears were ringing, casting the world into muteness.

"A new Kira," he said numbly.

Markel spun the laptop around so he could see.

"I looked up the old killings. It doesn't say anything about the old Kira's identity. But of course, he was Japanese. The police there obviously kept it hushed up."

Jasper nodded. The method of killing had never been released either. He remembered watching the latest broadcasts about Kira, four years ago.

"Only Near and the SPK were there for the prosecution. And perhaps a few members of the Japanese Task Force," he said.

The silence expanded tangibly between them.

"It's weird, how this all starts right when Near comes to Wammy's House," Markel said thoughtfully. She reached up and twisted her earring around.

"You don't mean you think it's him?"

Markel wrung her hands.

"No. Near is a robot without a soul, but he's honestly pursuing the name of L and justice. I think what needs to be evaluated, is: Why here? Why now? I think that for now, we can assume it's a coincidence. However, it's of the utmost importance that we figure out Kira, or as I will call him from now on, middle-Kira's motives." She shrugged. "Middle schoolers? Why? Either the killer has no interest in following the previous Kiras, they've never heard of Kira, or they have some kind of grief with the school."

Jasper nodded. He threw himself down on the couch, not caring that his face landed in a pile of Markel's dirty laundry.

"It doesn't even have to be a student. It could be a teacher, or a parent. Maybe even a bus driver or a Board of Education member. Hell, it could be an outsider who decided that he wants to kill the people at my school," Markel said, getting quieter with each sentence.

"If they've never heard of Kira, there's a chance that the culprit is a student. Or just not a stickler for the news. But all the intelligent statements are left to you."

Markel didn't respond. Jasper pushed himself up some and looked at her, afraid he had offended her with his light comment.

She looked incredibly small there, sitting on the side of the machine. She obviously hadn't rebraided her hair since that morning, and it fell messily over her face. She turned her eyes away from the television and looked at him. They were dark and starved looking.

Suddenly, it hit him.

"Oh, god. Oh, shit," he chanted. "Crap, crap, crap. Markel, I-,"

"It's fine," she said sharply. "It doesn't matter. We don't even know if that's true. The only thing that matters is catching Kira and preventing deaths the deaths of those kids. If we can do that, it won't make any difference."

"It won't make any difference?" Jasper said in disbelief. "Are you insane?"

"_Yes_," she snapped. "I'm absolutely wonky, wanting to save lives."

"That's not what I mean," Jasper growled. "You know what could happen. Just say it."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him.

"If the target is middle schoolers, then I could easily be killed at any moment. Everyone at school knows my name. I don't get a fun alias like at Wammy's House. I didn't have the ability to create a fake identity when I enrolled."

"Thank you!" Jasper exclaimed. "Don't you care that you're at risk?"

"I'm at risk either way!" she shouted. "The only thing at all that could help is if we catch middle-Kira! Don't talk to me like I'm stupid!"

Jasper reeled back and started to object, but she shouted him down.

"My only concern in regards to my own life is that you wouldn't be able to find middle-Kira without me. If I was killed, you'd have no way of investigating, the kids would die and Near would get to him!"

Jasper's rage surged and his vision went red. He jumped off the couch and charged up to Markel. She set the laptop aside and jumped down to intercept him. He tried to grab her wrist but she dodged and circled around him, kicking his knees out from under him. He fell like a sack of bricks and she nimbly jumped around him so she wasn't crushed and grabbed his shoulders, piledriving him to the ground. She put a knee on his chest and leaned into it so he couldn't get up.

"You moron! Stop acting like an idiot and get a hold on yourself! You know that there's nothing either of us can do, especially with you acting like a little putz! We have to find Kira before anyone can get hurt."

"You just want to get to him before Near does! You don't care about the kids," Jasper spat, struggling to get up.

"Have you lost your mind?" Markel demanded. "Sure, I hate Near. I hate how the world bows down before him. I hate that the kids at Wammy's House think they have nothing to look forward to if they can't succeed him. But you know what? I spend all day around the kids that are at risk here. Yes, they're stupid and annoying and unmotivated, but they are worth saving from a death they have no idea is coming!" Jasper made feeble attempts to raise himself off the ground, but couldn't do anything without his chest collapsing under her knee.

"Now, are you going to act like a normal human being or do I have to crush your sternum?" she hissed in his face.

Jasper stilled and went limp. Cautiously, Markel took her weight off him and he blew his breath out. She watched as his Adam's apple worked up and down.

"What?" she said guardedly.

He didn't answer. He rolled over on his side and buried his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But…do you realize what would happen to me if you were killed? I don't know if I could handle it. The only reason I'm at Wammy's House is because you're my oldest friend and we both decided that we would make changes there, no matter what."

Markel hugged her waist and shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"I know that. No matter what, right? This is no matter what. We have to save the kids at the middle school. And we have to do it before Near does." She kneeled down and pushed his purple bangs away. Pried his hands away from his face.

"I'm sorry I kicked your ass," she whispered into his ear and leaned back to watch a smile rise on his face. "You look really ridiculous, lying on the floor like that."

He choked out a laugh and sat up. She hugged him and he leaned his face into the embrace so that his cheek was pressing against her dahlia earring.

"You didn't kick my ass. Just made me fall on it. Then sat on me."

"Whatever," she laughed. "I'm still only eleven and you are a foot taller than me."

"Stop making me feel bad about it."

"Got it. Get up." Markel stuck a hand out and pulled Jasper to his feet. "That means I'm not going to baby you anymore."

"That was babying me? My skull just hit the ground because of you."

"Okay. If you want to be babied, go talk to Alpine."

Jasper grumbled something that didn't even make sense to him, and followed Markel into the living room. The television was still on the news channel, and there was nothing about the events at the middle school. They sat down on the sofa and watched.

After a few minutes of no mention of it, Jasper voiced his thoughts.

"How are we going to catch middle-Kira? We don't have the same kind of influence as Near. We don't have guns or police or bugs or camera surveillance. We can't question people without being suspicious, and even if we find middle-Kira, we can't prosecute him. If we're discovered, we're either dead or arrested."

Markel thought for a moment.

"I guess we'll just have to be clever. I'll look out for suspicious activity during school hours, and you deter Near if he decides to pick up the case. But I forbid you to get any information from him. We've got to do this ourselves if we're to make a point."

Jasper smiled at her determination.

"We should make a response to middle-Kira's killings. Like L did when the first Kira started to kill. Look." He pulled up the video on YouTube and they watched it.

Markel laughed at how easily L seemed to corner Kira in that first confrontation.

"That is something that would be just plain fun to do. We'd probably make middle-Kira flip his shit."

"And make Near crap his white pants," Jasper laughed.

"White pants? Don't tell me they're skinny cut," Markel looked horrified.

"Nah," Jasper said. "They're like pajama pants. I can't believe I didn't tell you about that though. Near is an albino. He looks like a sheep. He's got a white rubix cube with the letters of Mello, Matt, L, Near, and Watari on it. I don't know why there isn't a Roger. It's sort of offensive, if you ask me."

Markel scrunched her nose.

"Okay, that's weird. Anything else?"

"He sits on the ground all day in his pajamas and he plays with his hair like a cat with a ball of yarn. And he has finger puppets of him and Mello," Jasper said, and, now on a roll, adds, "he has a finger puppet of _me. _He hadn't even met me but this puppet that looked like it took a few hours at least to make was in his pocket. It looked exactly like me in the clothes I was wearing that night."

Markel raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. So he's a robot and a total freak. Interesting."

Jasper shook his head to clear out the Near-hate that cluttered his mind.

"That's not important right now anyways. Back to responding to middle-Kira."

"Right," Markel said. "We've got to wait until they broadcast the deaths before we air our response, otherwise it will be quite evident that we're connected to the school and I could die."

"Yeah, no dying please," Jasper said. "If we respond to middle-Kira, odds are Near will be on our backs too. It'll make it more difficult if he's looking for us."

"Well, yes," she grinned. "But I don't think Near will be aiming to get us hurt. Just identify us. After all, he will want to know what our motives are, and if we're somehow connected to L. If that's true, he'll have to be careful because he won't want to expose us to middle-Kira."

"But if Near finds us, the game is over," Jasper pointed out. The satisfied grin dropped off her face.

"Be caught by Near and shamefully submit, or be killed by middle-Kira somewhat anonymously?" she pondered. They caught eachothers' eyes.

"Be killed by middle-Kira," they said agreeably, and set to work creating the bait for their cache.

"We could stencil a note and send it to the news station to be read on air. But that would look dumb and unprofessional. Or we could do an audiotape but look like an L-Wannabe," Jasper said, tapping a pen against his chin.

"We could hire a skywriter. That'd make a bang!" she said sarcastically. Jasper whapped her with his pad of paper.

"No. We need to do something new," Jasper said, smiling. They both sat quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts. Markel began to laugh, and Jasper looked at her.

"An idea?" he asked.

"The best," she said smugly.

* * *

"I knew it," Jasper whispered nervously. "You are certifiably _insane. _Didn't we say that we don't have Near's resources? And the first thing you want to do is _break into a house?_" They were crouched low beside the house. The pitch black night hid them, but Jasper was still uneasy.

"Sneaking in," Markel corrected. "We're sneaking in, so relax. They don't even have a security system. It'll be easy-peasy."

"I'm sure Kira thought it would be easy-peasy-Japanesey to kill thousands of people without getting caught, but look what happened to him," he hissed at her silhouette. "He probably got shot multiple times, easy-peasy-swiss-cheesy!" He saw her grin glow white, then it extinguished as he felt her moving away from him. He growled and followed her, groping through the dark.

A few feet away, he bumped into her. She gripped his wrist in reassurance and then let go. She jumped up, grabbing the windowsill. She dug her toes into the brick and kicked to help her pull herself up. One of her feet caught Jasper in the side of the head – his eyes streamed, but at least she didn't have shoes on. She hauled herself up.

"Sorry," she whispered down to him. She reached a hand down to pull him up.

"_You're crazy, you're crazy, you're crazy, she's crazy_," Jasper muttered to console himself. Markel pushed him through the open window. He managed to avoid landing flat on his back like a beetle, twisting in midair. There was a quiet thump as he landed. He stood up, jerking his jacket around him irritably. Markel dropped through the window behind him.

They were in a long hallway. There was a thin line of light underneath one door, but everything else was quiet. Markel eyed it and whispered, "It's 1am. Why are they not asleep?"

"Does that mean we get to leave?" Jasper asked hopefully.

Markel shot him a look and said, "No. We just get to be very, very careful." Jasper's shoulders slumped and she patted him on the cheek. She tiptoed toward the door, careful to avoid blotting out the light. He followed her cautiously.

"Okay. So what's the plan?"

She bit her lip.

"You're not going to like this…but you're going to need to be a diversion. I need to get in there."

"A _what_?" Jasper yelped. She didn't respond, but firmly planted a hand on his shoulder and pushed, sending him sprawling. Jasper was too surprised to catch himself. He grunted and there was a heavy thump as he hit the ground. He turned towards her, but she energetically waved at him to _move. _He made a frustrated noise and picked himself up, sprinting down the hallway, making slightly less noise than a herd of elephants in clog shoes. Markel ducked into a room as the door opened and light streamed out of the room.

She heard someone make their way down the hall where Jasper had gone. She hoped he had found a good hiding spot.

Jasper sprinted down the hallway and ran into a random room. He could hear footsteps behind him, far too heavy to be Markel's. He looked around frantically and shimmied behind a curtain into a bay window. He grabbed the curtain to still it, then wrapped his arms around his knees and listened. The lights flicked on and he pressed himself further into the window. The footsteps got closer and closer, then stopped. Jasper imagined a huge goon with a spiked baseball bat leaning down to check under the bed. Then they continued and stopped. Only the thin sheet of fabric between them. The curtains stirred and Jasper braced himself.

They flew open and Jasper was looking into the face of the cleft-chinned news anchor from the evening news. His eyes widened in surprise.

"What the fuck? Who are you? What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

Jasper smiled nervously and chuckled – he dove to the side, around the man and ran out of the room. He slid around the corner, aware of the man running behind him.

Out of nowhere, Markel dropped down from the ceiling, wielding a fire poker. She landed on the man's shoulders, and with a deranged warcry, bonked him on the head with it. The man collapsed and she rolled off his shoulders.

Jasper stared as she tossed it to the side and brushed herself off. She leaned down next to the guy and grabbed a tuft of his hair, lifting his head up.

"Oh, shit," she said fretfully. "Do you think they'll let him broadcast tomorrow with that lump?"

"What?" Jasper said incredulously.

"Look!" she pointed at the rising lump on his forehead, just by his hairline. "News anchors aren't allowed to be ugly. Do you think that he'll be able to be on the news tomorrow? It's imperative that he is!"

Jasper laughed and said, "Yeah, a little makeup and he'll be good to go."

She sighed with relief and dropped his head unceremoniously. It banged into the ground but she turned around, unconcerned. She started walking towards the lit room.

"Help." She pulled some markers out of her sweatshirt pocket.

"What are those?" Jasper asked.

"Not help with this," she said. "Grab the guy and get him back into his bed."

"Oh, right."

He grabbed a foot and started to drag him towards the room.

"Are you sure he lives alone?" he called to her. He looked around nervously, expecting someone else to appear.

"Yep," she yelled.

It took a lot of maneuvering and pushing and pulling and shoving to get the man through the doorway to his room, but finally he was dropped, fully clothed, onto the bed. Markel was busy with something in the closet, but he wasn't able to look before she addressed him again.

"Go into the guest room and look in the closet. Grab all the suits and go shove them in the washing machine. And put the fire poker back."

Jasper looked at her, but went to do it.

When he got back, she stood waiting for him in the doorway.

"Ready to go?" she asked pleasantly, like she hadn't just put out a grown man's lights and he wasn't on the bed in the room behind her in a minicoma.

"Yeah, but what'd you do? Is he going to remember any of this? He saw my face."

"He won't remember it. I hit him really, really hard. He'll wake up thinking he got bludgeoned by a very strong primate."

"Didn't he, though?" Jasper said sarcastically.

She smiled, ignoring the insult.

"Just wait. This is going to be _awesome._"

* * *

**Sweet Baby James. **

**Easy-peasy-Japanesey.**

**Shot multiple times, Easy-peasy-swiss-cheesy. **

**Tears did stream. I'm so brilliant. **

**/falls over and dies laughing.**

**Review please!**


	8. The Monitor Room

**I want to thank ****TheDeathAssistant4 and RiXCHaN for their stupendous and constant support. They are who I have in mind when I write and update, thanks to their beautiful reviews and positive attitude. I don't know you, but I love you! (Misa-like)Let's all be friends together!**

* * *

They parted after scaling the gated entrance to the neighborhood. Jasper wouldn't be able to chance sneaking out the next night, but he assured her he'd find a way to watch the 6o'clock broadcast. Of course, that meant having the sneak into the monitor room, but he was fairly confident he'd be able to and didn't see the point of saying so. Also, classes ran late that day and he'd only have a half hour of grace time before he had to be planted in front of the news.

Details, details.

They had turned away from eachother, and run in opposite directions. Jasper listened to her cackle maniacally until they were out of earshot. He hoped she'd had the good sense to shut up before someone on a moonlight stroll called the insane asylum.

He squirmed into his window at 3am, knowing full well he'd be zombified when he woke up in 4 hours. But the plan was in motion.

Middle-Kira, here we come.

* * *

Jasper peeled his face off his desk for what felt like the 500th time, but in actuality, was only the 30th. Four hours of sleep and a ten-hour school day?

Yeah. Right.

He was aware of Alpine shooting him furtive looks. She was obviously debating whether or not it was something she could gloat over.

Her arm wasn't in a sling anymore and her temper had improved considerably. Probably because they had their two new classes the period before. Lidner, Rester, and Gevanni, hereafter referred to as the Terrible Trio had pounded the laws of surveillance into their skulls until Jasper's headache had evolved into a teeth shattering monstrosity. Jasper grudgingly admitted that the course was interesting, and had he not stayed out late infiltrating the homes and damaging the craniums of news anchors, he may have enjoyed the lesson.

He had flat out slept through Near's class. Theory was for chumps. He woke up in a pool of drool. Alpine later told him, with a fair amount of eyesparkling and wistful sighs, that his lecture was completely brilliant and informative. Jasper definitely felt like he had missed out on something amazing.

Not.

"Did he let you touch his hair?" Jasper had snapped irritably at her.

The theoretical textbook they were reading from that period had a lot of pages. Theories, Jasper supposed. Either way, it hurt really bad when she crushed his fingers with it.

"You're just jealous," she had sung, lovestruck, and floated off.

Blissfully, the last period of the day ended. Jasper's burning eyes shot open at the bell and he seized his bag, jumping two rows of desks on his way out the door.

He ran down a few flights of stairs, an empty corridor, and through four sets of steel doors that slid open with a hiss, muttering, "Monitor room…monitor room…"

In truth, he only knew of its existence. He had never been there and didn't know where it was.

He tiptoed down the corridor, peeking into rooms, hoping that it wasn't hidden secretly.

He peered into a room, but jumped as the door swung inward. He caught a glimpse of a white glow in the back of the room.

Roger stood there.

"Mr. Jasper," he said, surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Um. Uh." Jasper stuttered, forgetting in his exhaustion to be a smartass. "I was…going to pee." Then, indignantly, he picked up his façade. "Problem?"

Roger looked shocked. Jasper hitched his bag up further on his shoulder and set his jaw. He turned on his heel and scampered away from him. When Roger was out of sight, Jasper ducked into an alcove and waited.

A few minutes later, Roger walked past. Jasper grinned widely and stepped out of hiding, headed towards the room he had left. Checking to make sure the corridor was still deserted, he pushed the door open and slipped in.

The room was pitch black except for the white glow that Jasper identified as the monitors. They were merely a point in the distant – the light they cast didn't reveal anything about the room. Jasper groped for a light switch, but, not finding one, gave up.

He took a few cautious steps, hoping there was nothing to run into. Almost to the monitors, he felt something crunch beneath his foot. He froze, then reached down to try to figure out what he had stepped on. He grabbed two pieces of something, but even with them held up to his face, he couldn't tell what it was in the dark.

Growling in frustration, he continued to make his way towards the monitors. Several other objects met their maker under his feet as he took a few more steps. He flinched with each snap.

He had a pretty good idea that his intrusion here wouldn't go unnoticed.

That was okay though. Even if he was caught watching the news on the very night middle-Kira's killings were broadcasted, there wouldn't be enough evidence to pin his and Markel's response on him.

Suddenly, Jasper pitched forward. Fear of being impaled on the things he had been stepping on flashed through him, but he landed somewhat safely, putting his elbows out in front of him.

"Fuck!" he yelled with belated surprise.

"Indeed." The voice sounded amused. And familiar.

Near.

Fuck.

A small light clicked on, illuminating a small circle of the room. Near and Jasper were in the center of the pool of light. Jasper wasn't able to identify what he had tripped over, but in his scrutiny, he realized what he had been stepping on.

An army of toys spanned most of the room. A narrow path of crushed action figures where he had been walking. It looked like a graveyard. The only clear area was where they were sitting/sprawled.

Near's fingers were in his hair, twirling.

From where he was sitting, it became clear that Jasper must've tripped directly over the albino.

"Nice of you to drop in, Mr. Jasper. I was quite worried. The students and I diverted our attention to you sometime in the middle of my lecture. We were hoping you'd drool out, dehydrate yourself, and cease to form snoring noises. As we can see, you are still capable of bodily functions. I am relieved."

Jasper pretended to not have heard him. He tossed the broken robot toy he clutched in his hands away, knocking down several others. He hissed and pushed himself up in to a squatting position.

"What are you doing in here?" Jasper huffed.

Near smirked and fixed the pose on an action figure.

He kept silent though. Jasper didn't really care. He wouldn't be able to watch the news now.

"I was just leaving," Jasper said. He started to stand up, but Near cut across him.

"Would you care to watch the news with me? It is starting now."

Jasper looked warily at a monitor. The blonde anchor they had assaulted the night before was giving a report – the bump Markel had inflicted was nowhere to be seen, and he looked spiffy and unhurt in his black suit.

Those makeup people are good.

He was torn between curiosity and longing to see what Markel had done, and hatred to be in close proximity to Near.

Near seemed to sense this, and gestured towards the monitors.

"There are chairs underneath the television."

Jasper fidgeted, then gave in. _They can't pin anything on me. They can't pin anything on me._

He made his way to the monitors, picking his way carefully through the toys. He pulled a chair out and sat down, glancing back at Near who smiled at him and continued to fix the crushed toys.

Jasper rolled his eyes and turned towards the screen.

What could Markel have done while Jasper was busy dragging the man around?

When the man reported the deaths at the middle school, Jasper made himself tense up, like this was the first he had ever heard of it. He turned back towards Near, who had his eyes glued to television in a hard gaze. He held a half-repaired toy in his hands.

The news anchor looked perfectly rattled at the magnitude of the story he was delivering. His hands clenched around the papers he was holding as he reported that the three kids collapsed halfway through their lunch period. A sketchy video from the school's security cameras showed the kids convulsing on the floor as teachers struggled to get to them.

There was a grave moment of silence, and a female co-anchor asked the blonde man if there was…pause…any chance of it being a repeat of the Kira crimes?

The blonde man set his jaw and answered the questions professionally, but just as the camera switched to him, the studio lights shut off.

There was urgent talking behind the camera. A debate to cut to commercial – but the darkness stayed constant.

Jasper's jaw unhinged. Markel…

Bright lights flashed briefly, and then a glow somewhere near where the blonde news anchor was seen. There was whispering behind the camera, then the multicolor glow filled the screen.

Markel..the markers…the closet. Jasper was dumbstruck by the simplicity of her scheme. All it took was the markers, the suit, and some tweaking of the studio lights. And it looked totally _badass._

On a backdrop of what was obviously the news anchor's black suit, was a hastily scratched drawing in blacklight markers. A headstone. There were words written on it. Jasper squinted to see.

Middle-Kira.

It said Middle-Kira. Beside it, there was a web address that held no meaning to Jasper. Beside the web address: M.

M as in Markel? Obviously.

Jasper turned again to Near.

His eyes were dark and glowering at the screen underneath his bangs that suddenly looked jagged, not soft and curled. He set the toy to the side and pressed a button on a small console beside him. Then his eyes turned to Jasper.

"Interesting night to watch the news." Behind Jasper, the news cut to a commercial of a cat in a litterbox.

You set that mood, kitty.

Jasper just stared him down, then looked at the door, startled, as it opened. Lights inexplicably flicked on, and Jasper blinked. Roger was walking towards Near urgently, carrying a laptop. Jasper pushed himself off his chair and went to go look. Roger started to block him but Near waved him off.

The laptop was open to the web address that was beside the tombstone. It was pure black, with white text centered in the middle and nothing else.

Jasper's eyes widened as he scanned over the page.

Markel had been busy.

The webpage stated that M was already on the middle-Kira case of deaths, and would undoubtedly catch him or her soon. It went on to establish that M was in no way affiliated with L or Near, but their capabilities were not to be undermined.

Signed, M.

There were some Markel-like threats thrown in helter skelter, but that was the gist of it.

Near leaned back and twirled his hair.

"How incredible."

Jasper glanced up at him with his mouth slightly agape.

Shouldn't Near be more concerned about it than this? If he wasn't impressed with Markel's message, he should have at least said something about middle-Kira and the deaths.

"Roger," Near said. "As we discussed."

Roger nodded without a word and picked up the laptop, leaving. What could they have discussed? They'd only just heard about it.

Jasper felt slightly sick. He could only hope Markel was a few steps ahead of Near.

Near was looking at Jasper from under his spiky bangs.

"Interesting night to watch the news," Near repeated thoughtfully, and resumed fixing the toys.

Jasper was about to blurt out something defensive when the door opened yet again.

The Terrible Trio strode in.

"Near?" Rester asked with a glance at Jasper.

"Mr. Jasper, you may go," Near said, adjusting an action figure to make it look like it was leaving the other action figures.

Oh, I see what you did there.

Jasper left without complaint – he had a lot to ponder for himself.

He lay on his bed in the dark, Mello's fishbowl balanced on his stomach.

He needed to find a way to contact Markel. Obviously Near suspected him, but how much? Probably enough to have him followed when he snuck out at night.

He sighed heavily, the fishbowl rising and falling.

"You are so lucky that you are a fish, Mello. No complicated schemes, no Near, no Wammy's House, no worries."

Mello gave no indication of having heard. Just swam around, blurbing happily.

* * *

**I have to apologize though. I didn't go into detail about the kids' new classes, but it will come, I promise. I just have to reacquaint myself with criminal justice and theoretical investigations. And covert operations. Poop. **

**Review please!**


	9. Covert Op Assignment

**What do you mean, my author's note is not my own personal blog? Okay. But take a look at this anyways. I was trying to find a way to freshen up this fic a bit, and wasn't in the mood to add something to it at the time. So I did this! /unveils the link with a flourish. Oyea. I know. The ending is quite terrible. It's late.  
**

**(Youtube).com/watch?v=OvzfT5RbXC8**

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! Friend-circle!**

* * *

After Jasper had left, Near and the other three remained where they were in the battlefield of toys.

"Do you really think it's another Kira, Near?" Lidner asked. Near handed her a toy he had fixed – the last of them. She took it and then handed it to Rester, who held it up quizzically.

"It would seem so," Near said. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a silver marble. Started to toss it into the army, but then stopped and simply rolled it between two fingers. "The targets being middle schoolers is quite regrettable. I believe that it is now our obligation to take up the case. We cannot simply regard it, as we did with C-Kira.*"

The three agents nodded.

"Well, it looks like the SPK is reestablished," Rester said grimly. Near smiled in response.

"Perhaps this M would be interested in joining, I wonder?" The group of agents was silent. "It certainly is a curious development. Maybe we should simply watch this transgression between M and middle-Kira."

"But Near. That would mean sacrificing innocent lives," Lidner protested.

"Lives are already being lost. And I'm interested in who this M is," he paused. "Or who they think they are." He frowned and flicked the marble, decapitating an action figure. "Don't worry though. I would still like to do some investigating after middle-Kira and I've had Roger take steps in that direction. Which brings us to this next matter." He picked up the marble and the broken action figure, stuffing the latter in his pocket.

"I've called in a few people to assist us in the both the situations at Wammy's House and middle-Kira. I think that with our combined efforts, we can…kill several birds with one stone." The marble sailed through the air and knocked over action figures.

"Who are these people?" Gevanni asked, his hands behind his back.

Near laughed breathily. "I'm sure you remember them. Of course, they know nothing about this institution. Roger has called them in on an anonymous matter." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a paper, handing it to Gevanni, who looked it over and nodded, satisfied.

Near's lips slowly turned upwards.

"How is your covert operations class coming along?"

* * *

Jasper woke the next morning, fully rested but feeling like he could eat a vat of pudding the size of Pluto. His trek to the monitor room last night had run through dinner.

He set Mello back on his bookshelf and dressed to head down to breakfast. He stopped to pluck a notice off his door.

_Covert Ops students are to assemble by the front gates at eleven o'clock. No exceptions!_

Yeah. It's _Saturday._

Fine.

Jerks.

Instead of gorging himself on pudding, like he'd planned, he loaded up on foods that would sustain him through lunch.

If they were heartless enough to call class on a _Saturday_, they would have no quibbles about running through lunch.

Alpine plopped into a chair beside him, Bentley in tow.

Jasper bit into a chocolate waffled pointedly and gave her the evil eye, which she ignored.

"So I here we're going into town today," she said smart aleck-ly.

Jasper held his waffle up and let syrup drain out of the squares and into his mouth.

"Says who?"

"Ms. Lidner."

Jasper grunted and watched Bentley try to scoot his chair farther away from him.

"Dibs on eyeball," Alpine said out of nowhere.

"_What?" _Jasper's hand jerked and syrup dribbled into his eye. Alpine spoke over his obscenities.

"Ms. Lidner says we need to pick roles for our op today. I call eyeball, and Bentley wants reserve."

"Right," Jasper said, dabbing at his eye with a napkin. "So what does that leave me?"

She looked surprised, but then her mouth twisted.

"Oh, right. I forgot you slept through class yesterday," she said. "Eyeball is in charge of keeping a subject in his or her sights during a surveillance observation. The reserve, Bentley, is the third member of the team. The reserve is like a lookout for other activity. And backup, you, is responsible for watching out for the eyeball, just in case."

"Aren't the roles supposed to flip throughout the op?" Jasper asked.

"Well, technically. But I still call eyeball."

"But if I'm backup, you're constantly having to rely on me to watch your back. And you hate me. How does that work out?" Jasper said quizzically.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out. She knit her eyebrows.

"Fine. We'll rotate. But I want my own eyes on the subject as often as possible."

"Okay. So who's our 'subject'?" Jasper asked. He crumpled up his napkin and tossed it into a trashcan.

"We don't know yet. The whole class is coming but only one team gets to the run op. Everyone else just watches."

"Oh."

So maybe if they aren't picked, Jasper could find a way to sneak off and see Markel.

"We're teammates now, Bentley." Jasper grinned sharkishly at him. "Don't worry, I won't bite!"

Bentley chuckled nervously and stuffed a biscuit in his mouth.

* * *

At 10:55, Jasper, Alpine, and Bentley walked down to the front gates with the other 9 students that made up their class.

A simple van was parked just outside the gates. Beside it, the Terrible Trio stood waiting casually in jeans and t-shirts. The t-shirt advertised some school district's marketing team.

Ooh. Undercover.

Excellent.

The class grouped itself around the three agents. Lidner passed out t-shirts that matched her own and the students pulled them on.

"Today, a single team of three will be selected to conduct a surveillance operation on our unassuming subjects," Rester said. He pulled a photograph out of his wallet and passed it to a student. It circulated through them. Jasper glanced at the three men, memorizing their faces and handing it to Alpine.

"You will be undercover as a school marketing team, fundraising during the town square's seasonal festival. Your three subjects are trained professionals, but they are unaware of this school's existence. Done correctly, this task should be simple."

"Er," Alpine said, raising a tentative hand. "What exactly is our objective?"

Gevanni fixed his level gaze on her and answered for Rester. "Obtain their fingerprints and identities without their knowledge. And also," he handed Alpine a small envelope. "Discreetly give this to them. But be warned – this is no brush pass. The subjects can't know where they got it.

"Right," Alpine nodded. The Terrible Trio exchanged glances.

"Ms. Alpine, you and your team take point," Lidner said.

Crap. Looks like there will be no talking to Markel after all.

Jasper felt Alpine's eagerness expand beside him.

"Okay!" she said, like she was waiting for them to order her to drop and do fifty pushups.

The other students muttered. Some were relieved they were off the hook, and some sounded envious. They loaded inside the van filled with monitors and consoles and crates.

Such cute little marketing students.

* * *

When they reached town, they parked on the side of the road. The Terrible Trio punted Jasper and the other two out after giving them communication devices – a simple earpiece and a talk button strapped to their palm. It was small and secretive and could be easily accessed. They also had small cameras attached to their collars that the class and Terrible Trio would be watching them on. And to help them with their legends as students, three backpacks with fundraising forms and pens inside.

"Oh, my God!" Alpine gushed, turning in circles and looking at everything all at once. "This is the best moment of my life, except for maybe when Near came to Wammy's House."

Jasper cleared his throat and looked at her meaningfully. She ceased turning and blushed.

"Right. This is a grade."

"Split up," Jasper said. "We have to find the subjects first." They both nodded, Alpine somewhat reluctant to take orders from him. They all headed opposite directions, weaving into the crowd.

Jasper flattened his bangs down nervously. He felt very exposed in the crowd – he knew that the class and Terrible Trio were watching his every step.

Technicolor hair didn't help his ability to blend in.

Suddenly, Bentley's voice crackled in through the comms. Jasper nearly jumped out of his skin.

"I found the subjects. They're on Matilda Street, heading east."

Jasper jogged a few blocks to get there. He turned onto Matilda Street, and spotted Alpine's blonde head bob through the crowd and disappear.

"Got him," Alpine said through comms. "They're all together. Jasper, meet me at the corner of Matilda and Treben."

Jasper ducked through a group of old ladies who looked distastefully at his hair.

Jasper pressed the comms button on his palm.

"Should we be together?"

"Relax," she responded. "We're fundraising, Jasper."

He caught up to her and unshouldered his backpack. He reached inside and pulled out a folder and pen. Inside the folder were forms for fundraising.

"Where is the other one?" he said, and clicked the pen.

Alpine's eyes widened.

"Don't you dare –," she started but he was already walking away. She threaded into the crowd as Jasper charged through towards the men. He stopped a vender of parents from the local middle school handing out free samples of fudge in small cups. He grabbed two, careful to hold the rim.

"Hello, sirs!" Jasper said winningly. "I'm here raising money for my school's marketing program. Would you be interested in…" Jasper thought quickly, "er, fresh citrus?"

The largest man, broad and tall looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Sorry, but we're here on business," he started to excuse himself but the younger man cut in.

"Come on, Mogi. It's in support of education! I'd love some!" he turned to Jasper.

Jasper perked up theatrically. He did his best to ignore the shrieks that were coming in on the comms unit from Alpine. She was very, very unhappy. (_You swine! You idiot! Oh my God, you just failed us! We're toast!)_Jasper dug a fingernail into his ear to help the ringing dissipate.

"Great!" He handed the papers to the young man. "Also, would either of you be interested in our homemade fudge samples? You get a half pound of fudge for every crate of citrus, compliments of the marketing class!" The two men accepted the small cups of fudge.

Suddenly, Alpine appeared out of nowhere, bumping into the men.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said, steadying herself on the large man's arm. "It sure is crowded here. Has Jeida explained our fundraiser to you, gentlemen?"

Jeida? That's the best she could do? That's _a girl's_ name.

"Yeah!" the young man with the papers said enthusiastically. He handed the papers back to Jasper. His name was printed, but Jasper tucked it back into his bag without looking. Time for that later.

"Let me take those from you," Jasper said, gesturing towards the now empty fudge cups. He plucked them from the men's hands without waiting for their responses.

Two fingerprints, check.

Two identities left.

"Thank you so much for your contribution!" Alpine sang. She gripped Jasper's wrist, taking care to destroy his flesh with her nails, and started tugging him away.

When they were safely around a corner, she plastered on a huge smile.

"You idiot," she said through her teeth. "That was the most untactful confrontation I've ever seen! We are so dead!"

"Relax," he said. "I got their fingerprints and one of their names."

"Yeah," she said irritably. She shoved something in his face. "And I got the other name."

Jasper look surprised. The things she held was an ID. A Police ID.

"Oh. Lovely. Police. The Terr- teachers have some explaining to do. Did you put the envelope on them?"

Her face blanched.

"Jasper, Alpine," Bentley crackled through the comms. "What happened? I lost you."

Alpine pressed the button on her palm.

"We'll catch up with you in a second. I'm busy dismantling Jasper's limbs."

"Okay," Bentley accepted this in stride.

"What the hell were you thinking, barging up to them like that? This was supposed to be an informative op where we actually demonstrate what we're learning. We were supposed to evaluate our subjects, rotate through our roles, and find the best strategy of approach." Alpine shouted.

"It's called initiative, and it worked, didn't it?" Jasper said defensively.

"You're too headstrong! If you were Near and you were trailing a mass murder you wouldn't run up to him and ask him to buy citrus and sample fudge!"

"I think you're just mad that we have no citrus to truly sell."

Alpine clenched her fists and red crept up her neck and into her face. She was slowly turning maroon. Jasper took a few steps backwards.

"I'm sorry. Really. You're right. I'll take full responsibility and see if I can convince the Terrib- teachers to give you a redo."

Alpine facepalmed.

"You can't get your partner a redo if you blow their cover and they die."

Jasper thought for a moment.

"Well, we still have to get the envelope to them, and find the last guy. Perhaps you can redeem us while we work that out?" She relaxed some.

"Maybe. We can try."

"Mr. Jasper. Ms. Alpine," Rester's voice blared in through the comms. "I suggest you get moving. You should never leave a member of your team without backup."

"Yes, please," Bentley put in.

"We're on our way," Alpine said into the comms. Then, to Jasper, "Ready to do things correctly?" Jasper nodded.

They forced their way back into the crowd. Jasper kept the back of Alpine's head visible at all times as they mingled and pretended to sell citrus.

"I'm about twenty meters away from you guys," Bentley said through the comms. "Just so you know. Jasper, where'd you go? I can't see you. Wave your arms or something. Oh, nevermind, there you are."

Jasper gritted his teeth and sold four crates of oranges to an overzealous sleeveless man.

Because there is a plethora of purple-headed youth in this crowd.

Maybe he shouldn't be so hard on him though. Jasper was the one who had screwed up.

I'm sorry, sir, your oranges don't exist.

"Subjects are in my sights," Alpine said. "Jasper, come on."

"Right," he said, and excused himself from a group of school children who obviously just wanted to touch his hair.

"Now, this time it's going to be more difficult." Her voice was plainly irritable. "If we bump into them and ask them to buy citrus again, it will be somewhat suspicious."

"What about if we slip it into one of their jackets as we walk by? We can just hide in the crowd before they see us," Bentley said.

"What spy would do that? Lame," Jasper said.

"You're one to talk, Fudge Face," Alpine said.

"Watch out, Alpine. Grabby old guy at 3 o'clock," Bentley said. Jasper pressed his lips together to keep from laughing as he watched her disengage herself somewhat blatantly and slip back into the crowd.

"What's the plan, Alpine?" Jasper said, his voice rising with anxiousness. Sooner or later, the men would realize that the students following them were more than they appeared.

"Umm…" she said through comms.

"Guys," Bentley snapped urgently. "There's someone following Alpine!"

Alpine kept walking casually, as if she hadn't heard.

"You got that, Alpine?" Bentley said.

"Haha! Yeah! The marketing team is awesome!" she said to a group of women who had stopped her to buy citrus. As if she lived for fundraising for her school.

"She's got it," Jasper said. "Bentley, who is it?"

"Short black hair, middle aged, suit. Oh. Crap. It's the third subject, the one that wasn't with the men you met earlier."

Okay. Shit. They were obviously suspicious.

Jasper took a deep breath, and intentionally ran into a food stand. A few people around him stumbled. In the confusion, Jasper ripped the camera off his collar and the comms out of his ear. The timing was both brilliant and catastrophic at the same time.

Because Markel had just shown up. And picked Alpine's pocket.

* * *

**Hooray! Now I get to write about how the heck the rest of their op is going to go. Lovely. /facedesk. Why do I do these things to myself. Wee-o!**

**Review!**


	10. Pickpocket

**SHIT. I just realized that the Japanese Task Force ended up knowing exactly what the deal at Wammy's House was. And of course I remember this after I post the previous chapter and am unable to revise my mistake. Uugh. Okay. Maybe when they were chasing Light out of the warehouse, they fell and bumped their head and forgot. Fixed. Now, for the next two chapters, you must have that in your mind at all times so I don't look stupid.**

* * *

Markel leaned forward and plucked the envelope out of Alpine's backpack. Alpine didn't even look around, just chatted animatedly with the ladies she was selling imaginary citrus to.

Jasper looked on the scene in desperation as Markel disappeared into the crowd. What the hell was she doing? He picked up the earpiece from the comms unit and stuck it back in his ear. Bentley and Alpine were both quiet – neither had noticed Markel's liberation of the envelope. He yanked it out of his ear again so he'd have an excuse for not hearing anything that followed.

Jasper pursued Markel's retreating form before she could disappear into the crowd. He scooted past a school group, around a corner, and followed Markel into an alley. She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, the envelope tucked there securely by her gloved hands.

"Hey, there," she said. "Did you see the broadcast?"

"What?" Jasper said, caught off guard. That was not what he expected her to say, given the situation. "Oh. Yeah. I did. Why did you steal the envelope from Alpine?"

"This?" She nodded downwards at it.

"Uhm, yeah. That."

"I needed to get your attention. I knew you were watching Alpine – you were obviously tailing someone, based on your movements. You were the backup, right? And the shrimpy kid was the reserve. It's just like Alpine to give herself the role of eyeball."

"Could you stop being spectacular and smarter than me for just one second? Why didn't you tell me what you had in mind for the middle-Kira response? Near suspects me, you know. He has some kind of plan with Roger already. I had no idea what to think," Jasper protested. Markel frowned and uncrossed her arms.

"Why would Near suspect you? There should've been no way to trace it back to you."

Jasper opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again, and spoke hesitantly.

"I…er…well, I didn't trip over Near in the monitor room and I didn't watch the news with him because obviously that was a bad idea."

"Oh," she said, nodding with sarcastic wisdom. "Yeah, good thing you didn't do that."

"But I still needed to watch it because obviously I had no idea what you were going to do. From now on, can you keep me in the curve? Up-to-date on all of your plans?" Jasper said, somewhat angrily.

His reaction hadn't sprung out of nothingness. He'd had a creeping sense of inferiority throughout the events of the past couple days. Why couldn't she include him in her plans? He was just as smart as her. And he was on the inside of Wammy's House. He technically held all the cards.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Yeah. Sorry, I just…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Sorry."

Jasper relaxed some. He already felt guilty, jumping on her like that.

"It's okay. Sorry that I spoke to you like that. I should've brought it up before."

"No, it was my fault. I was getting ahead of myself. I was just really eager to make Near look stupid." She laughed somewhat forcedly.

"Right," Jasper said. "So, you wanted to get my attention? Why?"

"I was just going to ask if you saw the broadcast," she muttered. "How did Near react?"

"Well, he told Roger to go do something. He was very vague. I have no idea what that was all about," Jasper said good naturedly, all previous awkwardness aside. "He just commented on how interesting it was that I watched the news yesterday night, which is probably the extent of his suspicion."

Markel nodded distractedly, not meeting his eyes. Jasper went on.

"And now we're tailing the police for some reason. We are supposed to get their fingerprints, identities, and give them that envelope. We've only got two of the identities and fingerprints and - Oh, crap. Alpine and Bentley are probably freaking out! I took my camera and comms off!" he said.

Markel looked up.

"You should get back to them. Let's go."

They walked out of the alley, staying a few feet apart. Markel managed to follow him without looking like she was with him. When Jasper got back to the site of where he stumbled, he stuffed his comms back in his ear and reattached the camera to his collar.

He stiffened nervously as the two subjects walked past – they didn't look at him. He turned around quickly to get the envelope from Markel, but she dropped into the footsteps of the men, speeding up behind them. She slid the envelope into one of their jackets covertly, then melded into the crowd.

Jasper nodded to himself, checking the envelope off his list. Then he started, and pressed the button on his palm.

"Guys? The envelope is on the subject." Then kicked himself.

"What?" Alpine's voice shrieked through the comms. "How'd you get it? It was in my backpack. And where were you? We lost you and you wouldn't answer us!"

Jasper closed his eyes briefly, trying to stew up an excuse.

"I tripped and lost my comms and camera. The subjects walked past, so I took the envelope out of your backpack and slipped it into his jacket." The excuse sounded extremely weak. Geniuses these days.

"Anyways," he said, changing the subject. "What happened to the man who was tailing you, Alpine?"

"He dropped off me as soon as I distanced myself from the subjects. Apparently he was just being cautious. We still need the last identity and fingerprints, though. How are we going to do that? The subject was already suspicious of me. If any of us gets too close to him, they'll know something is up."

Jasper started walking (he was aware of how stupid he looked standing there talking to himself), mulling her statement over. He jumped as someone bumped into him. He saw a blur of dark hair, a muttered apology. Their gloved hand brushed his and suddenly he held a small sample cup, like the ones with fudge he had used for fingerprints.

Startled, he held up the cup. Inside, a rolled strip of paper. He looked around surreptitiously, but the person had already vanished. He picked the paper out of the cup and looked at it.

_Shuichi Aizawa. Touta Matsuda. Kanzo Mogi. _

Puzzled, he reached into the backpack to pull out the fundraiser forms. The name Touta Matsuda was on the very top line.

They were the identities of the subjects. The cup undoubtedly had the fingerprints of the third subject on it. And he had a lot to thank Markel for, now.

"I got the last identity and fingerprints, guys. We're done."

"What?" Alpine said, surprised.

"I guess we need to go back to the van?" Bentley questioned.

When they arrived, the doors of the van swung open for them and they piled back in with the class, taking a seat on some crates.

"Well," Rester said slowly. He exchanged glances with the other two agents.

"Yeah, that was the sloppiest op on the planet, I know," Alpine said before they could continue.

She shot a look at Jasper, who suddenly realized that he wouldn't be able to maintain his rebellious attitude and apologize for Alpine at the same time. He kept quiet.

"Well, since we're agreed on the subject of how terrible it was," Rester said, "I should probably fail you. But you achieved your objective, so we will content ourselves on Monday with pointing out all the flaws you made."

* * *

Back in his room at Wammy's House, Jasper was silently dreading the wrath of Alpine. He had agreed to take responsibility for how the operation went, but wasn't sure whether or not Alpine was content with listening to all the mistakes and faults they had made, when they resumed class on Monday.

He bowed his head, thinking. Mello looked as concerned as a goldfish could get from his place in the bookshelf.

What were the Japanese police doing in England? Perhaps they were related to what Near had mentioned to Roger. Maybe it was completely coincidental, and the Terrible Trio were trying to figure it out for themselves. Fingerprints, identities…the envelope.

The envelope was a mystery. Something in the back of Jasper's mind made him think that the envelope was what really mattered. He hadn't opened it – not even when he was talking to Markel and his camera was gone, which was stupid. It could have held information that would have explained their presence in England (right by Wammy's House, no less). But at the same time, he doubted that Markel would have overlooked the opportunity to open it. He thought about what she had said a few days ago. She didn't want to get any kind of help from Near's sources.

Jasper rubbed his eyes. He could feel a migraine coming on.

* * *

**It was a little bit rushed. Not a very good chapter. My apologies.;p**


	11. Truce?

"Hello, Mr. Mogi. Mr. Matsuda. Mr. Aizawa," Near said from his place sprawled on the floor. The police and SPK members stood around him, careful to avoid harming the arabesque of dominos that wound through the room. "It is a pleasure to see you all again."

The room was spotless. The walls were a clinical white, and half of the room was white carpet. The other half was white tile. A single white twin bed in the corner. The room was completely impersonal, except for the piles of toys that littered the floor.

It was the room that Near lived in, nine years ago. Exactly the same.

Near carefully set up dominos.

"Near, what are we doing here?" Aizawa demanded. "This was infuriatingly vague." He waved the envelope he had found in his jacket in the air.

"You already know what this place is, to some extent. After L died, you remember the name Quillish Wammy, correct?" Near said, tangling his fingers in his hair.

"Yeah," Matsuda said breathlessly. "Watari founded it as an orphanage with the money he made as an inventor!"

"That's right," Aizawa said. "But this-," he glanced around the white room. "-is nothing like a normal orphanage. And it doesn't explain how we got this letter."

"Please, Mr. Aizawa," Near said patiently. "You remember that when L came here and showed a special aptitude for justice, its goal became to specially educate the children to one day succeed him."

"Well, yes, but-,"

"Those children tailed you through the seasonal festival earlier today and planted the envelope on you. They also obtained your fingerprints and identities, as a test." Near held up the three cups and the slip of paper.

"But, Near, wh-,"

"You are here," Near interrupted yet again, "Because there is a new Kira at large."

All three of them looked shocked.

"What do you mean there's a new Kira? That's impossible!" Matsuda said in disbelief.

Near smiled blandly.

"Consider your statement, Mr. Matsuda. When Kira was killed, the Shinigami Ryuk returned to what we know as the Shinigami Realm. An entire realm of the killer notebooks. It's not impossible. It's not even improbable. Another Kira is not surprising at all." He stood a domino up precisely.

"He's right," Aizawa said grimly. "Am I to assume that we're going to assist you in prosecuting the new Kira?"

Mogi clenched his fists.

"And if we do find this new Kira? We find him, we arrest him, we wait for the next shinigami to come along and then there's a new Kira! Is there no way to stop this?"

"That's a very good point, Mr. Mogi," Near said, twisting the ends of his hair. "Of course we have no jurisdiction over a place like a Shinigami Realm. But it is my belief, that with each new owner of a Death Note, they get slower and stupider. We must continue to oppose the pawns of Kira. That is all we can do."

Aizawa nodded resolutely. "We're in."

The other two men murmured their own determined assent.

Near smirked.

"The current Kira, middle-Kira, is targeting middle school students. There have been a total of three killings over the past two days."

"And are the victim's international?" Aizawa asked.

"No," Near said darkly. "They're all local." Matsuda gasped.

"So middle-Kira is somewhere in this area!"

Near carefully placed a domino on the foundations of a structure.

"That's not all. We have a second…" he paused, considering. "…interloper. One called M. On the local news, M directly confronted middle-Kira. Their goal was obviously to make him or her squirm. And I have suspicions that it was directed at L's successor as well."

"What do you mean?" Mogi inquired.

"I don't believe they intend any conflict with me – their message clearly stated that they wished to be set apart from the influence of L and myself. I have evaluated what their motives could be. Perhaps they hope to make a point. Perhaps they are involved with the victims somehow." Near poked a domino into place carefully.

"I've considered the possibility that M and Kira are the same person, and that is why they have confronted themselves on television." Near shook his head. "It seems unlikely that anyone would be that stupid. Creating an alias to oppose themselves would not keep anyone else off their trail. I intend to investigate after middle-Kira in order to stop the killings. At the same time, I'd like to find out who M is. You can't know this, but I am without a successor. It is likely that this M person could hold an answer to that problem. After all, the magnitude of their response to middle-Kira is not something that would be undertaken by just anyone."

The agents in the room stiffened.

"So, we have to find middle-Kira and M." Rester said. "Near, if you believe that this M person only wants to make a point and capture middle-Kira, then won't us pursuing him endanger him?"

"It certainly is a triangle of peril. But we're just going to be careful." Near smiled. "This case is less a matter of justice, and more a matter of interest. How odd. But at the same time, our first and foremost goal is to stop the deaths of the schoolchildren."

"That was a little contradictory," Matsuda muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Near twirled his hair. He stopped stacking dominos.

This M..and middle-Kira. Knowledge of one would solve the mystery of the other.

M's motives…

Jasper's involvement was nearly certain…

Middle-Kira would continue to kill…

His thoughts scattered incoherently, and he picked up a domino and continued to stack them to console himself.

* * *

Jasper's face rested on the table as he tried to come up with another sentence.

He had never understood the significance of essays. Pick a side: check. Now explain why you picked it. How was he supposed to turn one sentence of his own damn thoughts into thirty pages? He didn't feel like he had to explain his reasons to anyone – this is what he thought, and he doesn't care if you think it or not, so fuck off.

And worse yet, he had a whole sea of things he'd rather be doing. Sneaking into town, for one.

He picked his head off the table and scribbled down a few words. Then broke the pencil in half, tossing it into a pile of other maimed writing utensils. Instead of going to steal another one, he scooted his chair in front of the pile and rested his chin on the table. He reached out and carefully extracted a pencil from the top of the pile, careful not to let any of them move. He set it off to the side and did it again. And again. And again.

"Pick-up sticks? Interesting. And what about this essay that I see on the table? Oh; thirty words. Good going." Alpine dropped a huge book on the table and the pile of pencils that Jasper was playing with scattered. He gave her a death glare from underneath his eyebrows as she sat across from him.

"I was almost done," he said, annoyed.

"With the essay or your pencils?"

She flipped the book open to the middle and started scribbling on a piece of paper.

"You're not done yet?" he inquired.

"I'm just citing sources. I already finished. I think Casey Anthony is as guilty as fuck. Scratch that, _I know_ Casey Anthony is guilty as fuck."

"That so?" Jasper muttered uninterestedly.

She slid his unfinished essay in front of herself. "On the fence, huh? Is that even allowed? I thought we had to take a side. Speaking of sides, why _don't _you think Casey Anthony did it?" She glared, daring him to oppose her.

"I dunno. I just don't think that I have any right to make a decision. I wasn't there. I don't know Casey Anthony. I don't know her family, and I don't know the judge or the jury or the prosecutors or the lawyers. Near didn't have any interest in that case, so I ignored it."

"Good luck turning that into thirty pages."

"I know!" Jasper cried exasperatedly.

Alpine started a tirade on how guilty Casey Anthony obviously was. Jasper tried to zen out, but her words were razor sharp and kept puncturing his I-don't-give-a-shit bubble.

"Look, if I cared, I would read your essay." He looked at it distastefully. "The whole six-point font, single spaced-ness of it."

He stretched out over the table, arms extended, fingers kneading the surface to work out the writing cramps. Alpine sniffed at him, and lifted up her book (with difficulty. It was an international current events periodical and probably weighed more than she and Jasper put together) and dropped it on his hands.

He howled and she shushed him.

"We're in a library! Anyways, speaking of your pain… I'm going to wait until after we get yelled at on Monday to decide whether or not I'm going to beat you up."

Jasper started to retort but she clapped a hand over his mouth and leaned over the table.

"Hear that?"

Jasper listened for a moment, then caught himself and glared at her. She grinned like Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother.

"Of course you don't. It's the sound of your impending doom put on hold." She removed her hand and he pulled back, rolling his eyes. She leaned against the back of her chair and crossed her arms, looking remarkably like Markel.

Jasper put his feet up on the table and wrote a few sentences without much conviction. He was aware of Alpine's eyes on him, and it was supremely distracting.

"So, about your earring," Alpine said after a few minutes. Surprised, Jasper's hand shot up to touch it, making sure it was still there. He gave her a guilty look. "You never told me what it is. I asked earlier. Before Near talked to us."

"Oh. Yeah," Jasper said. He caressed it as he thought of what to say. "It reminds me of someone. It's…peace of mind, literally speaking, I guess. Sentimental." Not a lie. But not the truth.

When Markel and he had met, years ago at an orphanage in London, she had worn the two purple dahlia studs. He was James then. They were insignificant at the time. Just her earrings.

When they heard of Near succeeding L, four years ago, they regarded him with distaste. Who could possibly replace another? No one – they thought.

And only months ago, when Jasper was recognized as a prodigy and was extended the Wammy's House hand, did they realize the warped system by which a successor is chosen. And they vowed to change it. And so, the insignificant earring that Markel had worn every day of her life filled the hole between the friends. Jasper moved to Wammy's House to try dissuade the influence of Near. She followed him from London, but remained behind, in the attic. She would have felt kicked into the corner if not for the earring.

"Oh," Alpine said thoughtfully. "And you can't tell me who it is, right?"

Jasper inclined his head wordlessly, and she nodded like she had expected it.

"I propose a truce," she said suddenly.

Jasper didn't even look up.

"Right. When the devil goes ice skating? When tofu ceases to be disgusting?"

She leaned forward and started to hit him but then caught herself.

Right. Alliance.

"I'm serious. I don't think that either of us have anything to gain fighting eachother. Correct me if I'm wrong."

Jasper closed his eyes. In truth, it didn't matter one way or another. She wanted to be Near and would not be dissuaded.

"You're not wrong." He opened his eyes and looked at her.

She looked like she genuinely wanted to get along with him – her copper eyes were eager, but not pleading. Alpine does not plead. And she does not lie.

Jasper has always been aware of that fact. He knew that she'd hit you if you anger her. Crush your fingers under a book if they're in the way. It was just as sure that she'd never tell a lie.

But she hated him. He was always beating her on the ranking tests. What was she up to?

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Cliché, but correct.

"Okay," he agreed. "Truce." He reached across the table and bumped fists with her.

"Have fun with your essay," she said, standing.

"You mean we aren't homework buddies? What the hell did I sign up for, then?" Jasper joked.

She half smiled, tucking her bronze hair behind her ear. She grabbed the enormous book and left.

When she had vanished around a bookshelf, Jasper tipped back in his chair and furrowed his brow.

Why is everything so confusing?

* * *

**OH, my Kira. **

**Don't you hate it when you're going along with your story and BAM your character hits you in the head with a book? I think Alpine crushing his fingers were literally her way of getting me to fix her character. I need to reevaluate ALOT of the plotline from here with this development, so updates may be scattered.**

**P.S. Interesting tidbit, Markel was a boy up until she jumped down from the closet. The Anne Frank was still a joke before he turned into a she.**


	12. Implicate

**Alpine would make a great Charlie's Angel. Just saying. I love her to death.**

* * *

Alpine lay flat on her back on the floor of her room for the fourth night in a row. She didn't feel like a genius. Her mind was muddled, even in this position. The sheer simplicity of the truce she had imposed made her feel like an idiot.

It would be worth it, though. She was 93% sure that Jasper was guilty. Factoring in all the nights that Jasper had snuck out…

Yes. About 93%.

But no…

She growled and grabbed at her head. Why can't I _think?_

Whoever had taken the envelope had been good. She had no idea it would happen until she felt just the slightest tug on her backpack. She'd only just managed to disguise her shock while talking to the women buying citrus. Confronting them as they took it would've been useless; it'd only make a scene. And reveal to the entire town that they were tailing three men through the festival.

And then Jasper's sudden disappearance. He wouldn't answer the comms, claiming he'd fallen and lost both his camera and it?

Bullshit.

She was eyeball – she had her eyes on the subjects. She saw the third man rejoin the others after dropping off her tail. She saw the flash of a dahlia earring near the third man's jacket.

When she had asked Jasper about his earring, the morning they were sitting in the library before hearing Near, it had been idle curiosity. She knew that there was no way he had been the dahlia earring. Especially not after she asked him about it just a few minutes ago – he said that it reminded him of someone. He would have no reason to lie. He didn't know her suspicions.

Someone on the outside knows about Wammy's House.

And worse yet, they were actively interfering in their affairs. _Her_ affairs. Her grades had nearly suffered because of them. Her chances of being Near were compromised.

She wouldn't allow it. She and Jasper called a truce. It'd be easy to talk it out of him.

She'd find out who it was, and get rid of them. And then she would succeed Near.

She opened her eyes and sat up.

A sunset slanted through the half open blinds, casting the room in a gold glow. Her room was used to her lying on the ground, so it became methodical for her to keep things on the borders, leaving a chronically bare spot in the center of the room. She had an entire wall of bookshelves, stuffed with thick leather tomes. Actual tomes. A simple desk in the corner. Around her bed was a wall of books – stacked carelessly after many late nights of reading.

She stood and paced, restless.

Where to begin? Following him out would be dangerous, but would probably solve all of the problems instantly. No – it was best that she keep her actions to a minimum. She wasn't like Jasper. Charging up to his despicable partner would be reckless. Who knows what they would be capable of, if they had so easily evaded her during the festival.

A thought flashed through her. Why not tell a teacher? No. A teacher would just look at her oddly. And plus, it was her mystery to solve. It was a personal issue. She wanted to directly confront the person who dared to implicate her succession of Near.

But could she afford to wait and try to slowly get the answer out of Jasper? Probably not. If his partner interfered again, it was likely that Alpine would be directly affected.

She walked over to her window and pushed the blinds aside. Then gasped and leaped to the side, out of the line of sight of her window.

Her room was on the second floor of Wammy's House; adjacent to another set of windows on the other part of the building. Another second floor window had just opened. She allowed herself to peek forward slightly. Her eyes narrowed.

A dark form was on the roof, crabwalking down to the edge. The golden light shone in her eyes. She leaned forward, trying to distinguish who it was. Purple hair. Of course. She waited until Jasper had jumped onto the limb of a tree and vanished before she boosted herself out of her own window.

On the roof, she was slightly unnerved. It was steep and the wind was blowing gently, trying to catch her and make her lose her balance. She started to lower herself down to walk like he had, on her hands and feet, with her back parallel to the ground.

Suddenly, her foot slipped and her heart leapt into her throat. Her leg shot straight outward and she pitched forward, forcibly running down the roof. She managed to bite back a scream of terror and surprise. She tripped, then her other foot caught her and just before she ran off the edge of the roof, she automatically kicked. Her leap of faith propelled her several feet out over the abyss – she scraped through a few thin tree branches, scratching her face and hands, and then collided with the thick tree trunk.

Ooh, something _hurts_.

She stepped away from the tree trunk gingerly, but kept a hold on it so she didn't topple over and fall twenty feet. She turned her head back towards Wammy's House, then slowly released the tree trunk from her deathgrip.

Alpine blew her hair out of her eyes and then cautiously skirted around the tree trunk, stepping on the thicker branches.

The trees that surrounded this side of Wammy's House continued until the large fifteen foot wall that encircled the school. She would have to either climb down now, then find another tree to scale later, or jump through the trees all the way to the wall.

Hating herself for her decision, she slowly walked out along the tree branch. Before she could have any second thoughts, she leapt off and landed on another branch from the nearest tree.

She shook her hair back from her face, annoyed. Too much of this stuff. Why didn't she just cut it all off?

She jumped from tree to tree until she arrived at the wall. Walked out on a branch over the wall – the wrought iron spikes at the top grinned at her, daring her to fall and skewer herself. No thanks.

Kneeling, Alpine wrapped her arms around the tree branch, grabbing her own wrists. She slid off the branch and dangled twenty feet off the ground. It was an uncomfortably long drop. She took a deep breath, shimmied closer to the wall, and let go.

As soon as she started to fall, her hands shot out and seized the bars of the wall, sliding down them to slow herself. Safely above the ground, she dropped the last few feet.

Jasper does this every day. Now I did it. So there.

She smiled and then smacked herself on the forehead. Jasper was most likely long gone – she'd have to run all the way to town in order to catch up to him.

She took a deep breath and retied her jacket around her waist. She turned and started to jog in the direction of town.

* * *

"Jasper and Alpine just left Wammy's House," Lidner said, looking at the monitor.

Near had had cameras set up along the perimeter of Wammy's House, and additionally outside Alpine's window.

Near flicked his gaze over to the monitor, then returned to his game of darts.

"We didn't bug their clothes, did we?" Near muttered quietly. "There is nothing to be gained by watching this outing. Please direct your full attention to the profiles of the student victims. For now, our highest priority in regards to that case is detecting a pattern in the student deaths."

He frowned and sent a dart flying. It bounced off the board and he stared at it for a moment before letting another go. He didn't bother to watch where this one hit – he was now thinking of the students' excursion. Watching them would provide the greatest insight for M, but he wasn't able to behave narrow-mindedly. Middle-Kira was his goal. M was simply a perk.

The rest of the SPK sat in chairs around the wall of monitors. The Japanese police had the three student files open in front of them. Lidner was watching the monitor out of the corner of her eye occasionally, despite what Near said. Gevanni was looking through footage of the three children's death upon an earlier order by Near. Rester was trying to look through a file, but kept having to get up to retrieve Near's darts for him.

Near listened to a news report on a monitor near him. The local and national news had started a 24 hour news broadcast specifically for reporting the new deaths. Earlier today, an additional three students had died. There was no footage, as it was a Sunday, but they had obtained the student files.

"Gevanni, Lidner," Near addressed them. They both looked up from their work, giving him their full attention. "I want you to bug and plant video surveillance throughout the school. I would like to be able to watch the entire school tomorrow during classes. Can you do it tonight?"

The two nodded, stood, and left.

"Near," Rester said, watching them go. "Shouldn't I go with them?"

"Of course not," Near chuckled. "You're needed here. Please fetch those darts for me." Rester grumbled and retrieved them, then sat back down and flipped through the student files.

Near dropped his smile and tossed a dart. It stuck with a hollow _thump_.

The only pattern he had been able to determine that linked the students was that they were all either delinquents – bullies who had multiple behavioral problems and constant remedial courses, or star students in honor programs and who took part in multiple extracurricular activities. Near threw another dart. _Thump_. It stuck in the bull's-eye.

Now all he needed was surveillance, which would begin tomorrow. He had to find out what kind of students were likely to be associated with the previous two profiles. It should be relatively simple to narrow it down from there.

He twirled the ends of his hair.

_Thump_. Another bull's-eye.

* * *

**A bit short, but my mind is feeling a wee bit stretched. I don't have time in my day to simply lie on my back in the center of my room.**


	13. Pursuit

Alpine saw him about halfway to town. Night had fallen, so she could see his silhouette by moonlight without a problem. If he turned around, though, he would only see the dark wall of trees behind him.

She stealthily followed him all the way to town until he looked around and cut into an alley. She sprinted after him. There was absolutely no way she would lose him in the maze after following him for three miles in the dark.

Alpine rounded a corner at a dead run and saw him climbing the ladder of a fire escape. She skidded to a stop, horrified. She was in plain sight. She looked around desperately, and then dove behind a dumpster and hunkered down.

Jasper's ears perked up at a sound. He stopped climbing and peered down at the alley below him. A dumpster wobbled slightly and he squinted, looking closely at it.

Behind it, Alpine sweated. She was going to be discovered…a hiss. Somewhere to her left…there. In the shadows. She bravely reached into the darkness and pulled out a mangy, flea bitten cat. She adjusted her grip on the struggling feline, and then launched it upwards. It landed with a hollow _thunk_ on the top of the lid.

Jasper smiled and shook his head. He continued to climb. Stupid cats. He reached the roof and disappeared.

Alpine quickly crawled out from behind the dumpster and stood up. She dodged a swipe from the angry cat and ran towards the ladder, leaping straight up and grabbing the lowest rung. She hauled herself up and scrambled up and over the edge of the roof.

She looked around, and spotted the shed.

She cautiously poked her head in. Nothing. She quietly eased the rest of herself in. Through the darkness, she could see the edge of a trapdoor in the middle of a pile of boxes.

She took a deep, steadying breath and counted to 100. Alpine reached up and pulled her hair back from her face, holding it at the back of her neck, then lifted the trapdoor to peek in.

A dim wash of light that illuminated nothing of consequence. A dull line of sounds from a distance. Voices. And not a word was distinguishable.

She grimaced. There was no sense backing out now. She slowly opened the trapdoor and slid through. Her foot touched a ladder, and she grabbed it and lowered herself into the dank, tiny little space. There were walls on three sides, and the whole space appeared to be a shallow indention in a part of a bigger room.

She pressed herself against a dark wall and inched over to the opening. Alpine allowed herself to lean forward – just a bit – and saw a sliver of what appeared to be a living room. Two simple sofas (both a bit on the ratty side) and a TV that was on.

And, she realized, _people. _

No more than fifteen feet away. She wasn't visible to them, and wouldn't be unless they walked into the small space, or directly to the side and looked in. It wasn't a very reliable hiding spot, but she stood there and listened nonetheless.

* * *

Jasper sprawled out on a coffee table. All of the couches in the room were covered in even more crap than usual. There was only enough space for Markel to sit in the mounds of laundry and other trash. He absently tapped the toe of his shoe against the floor and stared at the mess as if he were trying to solve some great secret.

"So…" he said. Tapped his shoe some more. "You must be busy with this. I've never seen it so disgusting in here. No time to clean up?"

"I was never very good at cleaning to begin with," she said without looking up from her laptop.

He made a noise of acknowledgment and continued to look around.

"Any more deaths?" he said, trying a different tact.

"Yeah. Another three," she said. "It's Sunday, so they weren't at school. They were reported on the afternoon news. There probably won't be anything additional to see tonight, but we should watch just in case."

"Okay. I have to admit, this Kira is slightly boring. He won't even answer us."

She was silent. He closed his eyes and, in the ultimate show of boredom, attempted to try to consciously control his own breathing. It was actually hard work.

"I think that middle-Kira has something against the delinquents and gifted students," she said.

He cracked an eye open.

"You don't say?"

"All of the victims were either one or the other. It makes me wonder…could middle-Kira be a student who despises both? Maybe a reclusive scapegoat of both parties. There are a couple of those." She leaned her head back against the couch and a pile of laundry toppled down, landing on her face and burying her.

Jasper pushed himself off the coffee table and started to dig her out.

"Anyways," her voice was muffled through the clothes. "I think, tomorrow night, we should go into the school and get a look at the student files. Maybe we'll be able to find out if there are any other connections."

Her head popped through the top of the layer of laundry and she looked at him.

"Your roots are showing?"

"I beg your pardon?" Jasper said, aghast. He held up an unidentifiable article of clothing and gave up trying to figure it out. He tossed it to the side.

"When was the last time you dyed your hair? It looks awful. You need to do it again. Come on."

She stood up, clothes falling on the ground. She dragged him into the tiny kitchen-bathroom.

"Let's see," she said, flicking through the boxes of dye. "Purple again? Ooh, what about orange? I like orange. Or green?"

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, watching himself in the mirror.

"Purple. It looks good with my earring."

"And your eyes," she agreed. She ripped the box open and got to work.

* * *

Alpine let out her breath and sagged against the wall with relief as they left the room. But her mind was reeling. What were they talking about? Murders? Kira?

What had she been thinking, following Jasper out? And what would happen back at Wammy's if she was discovered sneaking out? Her chances of being Near would become nullified. And she'd risked it anyways.

At this point, she could think only of what she'd put at stake. How on earth did she think she was going to get rid of them? It sucked (really bad) because the trespasser was a kid. She couldn't do anything in that regard.

And simply by the way this child spoke, Alpine suspected them to be the clever interloper from town. But for some reason, it hadn't affected her like she'd thought it would. Finding out had been extremely…anticlimactic.

She had involved herself in something huge, completely by accident. They had been talking of something serious, involving deaths and murders and Kira. What did Near know of this? Did he know of murders and Kira? And Jasper and the interloper had talked of Kira responding to them. What was that about?

She closed her eyes briefly and made the decision. If she could figure out what was going on, then she'd surely win the approval of Near.

But it was oh, so scary, leaving her refuge and stepping away from her escape route.

Alpine quietly made her way into the room. She wound her way through the mess over to the center of the furniture. She very carefully pushed laundry to the side and picked up the laptop. She flicked a glance over to the kitchen – thankfully, the door was far off to the side and she wasn't in the line of sight.

She opened it and looked at the internet browser. She read through the tabs that were pulled up…articles on the Kira cases, the latest being nine years ago. They were not new to her – every good Wammy's student knew of the serial killer that had faced off with both L, who lost his life and Near, who brought him to justice. But when she reached the last tab, she was perplexed. The tab was only titled: M.

She shot another glance at the door of the bathroom as her spine prickled. Nothing.

The webpage was black with a white patch of text in the center. She read it with her eyes narrowed. How dare…how could they even mention L or Near? It was so incredibly asinine of them. How dare they compare their skills to the superdetectives?

She shook her head to clear it. Anger could come later.

The droning of the television caught her attention for the first time. A blonde news anchor was looking frazzled.

"The mysterious deaths that have persisted over the past few days have attracted the attention of what appears to be an anonymous vigilante known as M."

Alpine set the laptop back where it was and closed it, careful to make it look untouched, then diverted her thoughts to the television.

The news anchor started a long winded story about the deaths of middle school students in the area, and that a new Kira was suspected in the deaths. The involvement of the super sleuth Near was not known.

Alpine thought furiously. She could bring this information back to Near. Tell him that the M person was Jasper and the interloper. Where they were hiding. And she'd be his favorite. She'd be his first successor.

She jumped – some infinitesimal change in light or air density? A gut feeling? But she had to leave now - with her information. She whirled around and ran towards the exit, jumped onto the ladder, and climbed up.

* * *

Markel and Jasper left the bathroom a few seconds later. He looked ridiculous with foil and a cap on his head. He sat down on the coffee table again and watched the television. Markel walked towards the spot on the couch where she had been sitting, but stopped abruptly as she looked at her laptop.

"What?" Jasper said.

"Nothing," she replied, and continued walking. She picked up the laptop and sat down in the seat, opening it. "So, like I said, tomorrow I need to look for suspicious activity in kids. I have a pretty good idea already, but I'd like to observe him tomorrow especially. Then if I see a need, we can break into the school and steal his student file that night."

"What is it with you and breaking into places at night?" Jasper asked without taking his eyes off the TV.

"Same as you," she said with a toothy smile. "And same as Mello. Initiative. The ends always justify the explosions."

Jasper shook his head.

"We haven't blown anything up," he said. Then quickly added, "Yet."

She snickered but didn't respond. Jasper hoped she wasn't trying to find a way to squeeze that into their investigation.

"Come on," she said after a few minutes. She stood and shut her laptop. "Time to rinse. Huh. How do you think I'd look with orange highlights?" They walked back into the bathroom.

* * *

Alpine arrived at Wammy's House after a long three miles of running. She scrambled up a tree, not knowing how she managed to do so, and into her window.

She left her room and quickly made her way to Roger's office, knocking on the door. She heard Roger summon her in, and she opened the door. He reached to the side and pressed a button on his phone as she stood in front of his desk.

"I need to talk to Near."

He furrowed his eyebrows quizzically.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Alpine, but he is busy at the moment."

She made a frustrated noise and leaned forward with her hands on the desk.

"It's important."

He shook his head and smiled paternally.

"Perhaps you could speak to him after your class tomorrow?"

"Why would he be teaching our class tomorrow when he has a Kira case to solve?" she demanded.

Roger's expression didn't change, but she saw his hands clench slightly.

"I can't imagine what you mean by that, Ms. Alpine."

"I have important information that will benefit him," she persisted.

Roger stared into her eyes for a few moments, calculating. She stared back, but jumped as a crackling sound came from Roger's desk.

"I'm quite happy to speak with you, Ms. Alpine," came a voice from Roger's phone. Alpine's jaw dropped. Roger had had Near monitoring their conversation. She felt just slightly ridiculous for sounding so breathless while Near was listening.

The connection in his phone cut off and then it was silent. Roger stood up and walked around his desk.

"If you will follow me, Ms. Alpine," he said, holding the door open for her. She swallowed nervously and walked out the door. Her heart raced. She was going to talk one on one to Near.

* * *

**Dun-dun! dun-dun! dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, da-na-na! Yeah. She's going to spill all to Near….? Jasper and Markel sure are in for it…**

**Go read RiXCHaN's fanfiction while you're waiting! Gawsh!  
**


	14. Tattletale?

Near lay on his stomach on the floor of the monitor room, looking like he'd never moved at all from the last time an audience was present. The battlefield of action figures had been cleared away. The SPK was still sitting at desks under the monitors on the perimeter of the room.

In front of him, he was playing a Peg Board game. The triangle was made of dark wood and the pegs were white metal. He jumped pegs, leaving one standing in the center. The sheep plush rested against his side.

The door to the monitor room opened and light spilled in for a brief moment. Then it closed and only the soft glow from the monitors stood.

Alpine and Roger walked in, stopping short of Near by a few feet. The SPK turned around to look at them. Near reset the pegs in the triangle board, not looking up.

"Yes?" he said robotically.

Alpine shuffled her feet, suddenly panicked. Why were the three teachers staring at her? And the other three men…they were the men she, Jasper, and Bentley had tailed during the covert op assignment. She wished they'd get back to whatever the hell they had been doing before. And Near…why wouldn't he look at her? She was supposed to be helping him out. He had allowed her to come speak to him. The least he could do was act like he was paying attention.

"Er," she said, butterflies swarming in her stomach.

Roger looked at her sideways and covered for her.

"She said she has something vital to contribute to the middle-Kira case."

Near finished the peg board again and laid his head down on his outstretched arm, like he was going to sleep, tucking the sheep plush close to him.

"Yes," he said. "I heard."

Alpine nervously rubbed her wrists, feeling her face heat up. Here was her opportunity. So why couldn't she seem to say a single word? She was uncomfortably aware that the SPK were exchanging glances.

Wouldn't telling Near about what she had seen be breaking her truce with Jasper? But what did she care about that? This was so much bigger than that. It was the rest of her life. It was her chance of _succession._

And yet she couldn't utter a word – she couldn't lie. She couldn't. She hadn't lied since…

"I'm sorry," she choked out to the room. "I -," she cut herself off before she could say anything stupid. She turned and fled from the room, muttering an incoherent excuse.

Near lifted his head off his arm and looked at the spot she had vacated, thinking. Something had happened after Jasper and she had snuck off campus earlier that evening. That much was certain. But he hadn't had them under any type of surveillance; it would have been too close to him looking after finding M. He hadn't been able to afford that selfishness. And he still couldn't. He would remain where he was in his standing on the middle-Kira case.

"Mr. Matsuda," Near said suddenly. His voice took on an amused lilt as he outlined his intentions to the anxious looking young man. When he finished, Matsuda looked shocked but nodded. Near diverted his attention to Lidner and Gevanni.

"You finished installing camera surveillance in the school?"

"Yes," Lidner said.

"Good," Near said. "That is the next step in this investigation."

* * *

In her room, Alpine paced like a caged animal. She couldn't bring herself to lie down on the floor. Desperation rendered her unable to do anything but feel horrible. She started to throw herself onto her bed, but then stopped. Instead she folded on herself, leaning against the wall.

She couldn't believe that she had shown that kind of inadequacy in front of her teachers, Roger, those other three men, and _Near. _Her entire body still burned with shame and she felt tears spring to her eyes. She wasn't a crier – but she had never felt so ruined in her entire life. Everything was over. She hadn't been able to betray her promise to Jasper because…

She took a deep, shuddering breath and closed her eyes.

Nine years ago, she had been living with her parents in Washington DC. She had lied to them about which route she'd been taking to school. It had been juvenile, but she hadn't wanted them to know. She liked the scenic route she took, but it was known for its heavy traffic and reckless drivers. They wouldn't have let her go anymore. One day, they tried to catch up with her to give her something she'd left behind…they'd taken the fake route. Been mugged. Killed.

Because she was a liar, liar, liar.

She'd never told a lie since then. And she'd never gotten anyone hurt ever again.

She choked out a sob and buried her face in her hands.

* * *

Jasper woke up in his own bed the next morning. He finally felt like they were making progress. Markel would be observing students today; he had no doubt that she would come to some sort of conclusion in time to break into the school that night.

He pulled on a t-shirt and twirled his earring. Picked up his toothpick from his nightstand and smiled at the recently dyed highlights in his hair.

On his way down to breakfast, he bumped into Alpine. She was slowly making her way down the hallway. Her hair, which normally cascaded over her shoulders, was messily tied back in a bun. There were bags under her eyes.

"Hey," he said brightly. Best to make the most of their truce.

She met his eyes for a moment and nodded an acknowledgement.

"Late night?" he asked.

They turned into the dining room and sat down after Jasper grabbed a few cups of pudding and a bowl of Fruit Loops. He dug in and Alpine sat there silently.

Her muteness was a mystery to him. She had seemed quite happy the night before, in the library. However, he decided to stay quiet about it.

When he finished, they both got up and left. She spoke for the first time as he started to turn the corner.

"See you later," she muttered, and started to walk back in the direction of the student rooms.

"What are you doing?" he called after her, but she didn't respond.

He shrugged and made his way towards class. Near wasn't present in the classroom – instead, the young man from the covert ops assignment was sitting at a desk. Jasper recognized him as Touta Matsuda, the man he had sold citrus to. Jasper bit his cheek to keep from laughing and took a seat in the back.

By the time the bell had rung, Alpine had still not come into the classroom. Jasper tried not to be worried over nothing. She had looked really tired. Maybe she took studying too hard. But Alpine missing a class was unheard of. Skipping certainly didn't earn you kudos with Near or Roger.

He put his face down on the desk, trying to sort out the theories and speculations that surfaced in his mind.

"Uh," Matsuda started. "Well."

The students in the classroom quieted and looked at him. This seemed to worsen the situation. He had actually been capable of making some sort of noise when their attention had been scattered. He opened his mouth and attempted to say something a few more times. When he finally managed it, he said, "I'm going to be substituting your class while Near is unable to be here. You can call me Mr. Matsuda." The class looked at him skeptically. A burly, obnoxious kid raised his hand.

"Is English your first language?" he asked rudely. Matsuda's face reddened.

"Um, no. I'm actually from Japan. And I am sort of out of practice with English." He coughed and tried to steer the conversation to steadier ground. "Near left this…thing…for us to go over." He picked up a stack of paper from the desk and held it in front of his face so he couldn't see the class. He seemed to be far more confident with this development.

"Tactical crime solving…theoretical investigations…criminal justice. Okay. Er." He moved the paper closer to his face but it slipped slightly. The pages unfolded into a long line of parchment that fell to his feet and tangled with itself. He looked around the papers that he held, down at it. He blushed again. "Okay. Nevermind about that. Let's do something else." He muttered something about having been a cop for ten years and not understanding a single word of it anyways. He laughed nervously and kicked it to the side.

"How do you say idiot in Japanese?" the rude boy asked.

Matsuda pretended he hadn't heard him.

"How do you write your name in Japanese? Does it mean anything?"

Jasper put his cheek in his hand and looked up in exasperation. This was going to be a very long hour.

Matsuda finally quieted the class of _bakas_ and contented himself by finding a few episodes of Monk on the internet and hiding behind the computer monitor for the duration of the class.

* * *

By the end of the day, he was itching to get out of Wammy's House and to Markel's attic. But he now had another factor he had to store in the back of his mind. Alpine's personality had changed dramatically. First the truce, then the depression and the classes she had skipped.

* * *

Alpine had returned to her room after breakfast, coming to terms with the fact that she would not be able to brave the day. She wasn't able to attend classes when she was certain her chances of becoming Near were already abolished. She spent the entire day on the floor of her room, trying to get a hold on her emotions. By the time classes were finished, she'd calmed herself with deep breathing and reading.

But she was still depressed. How would she be able to get over the loss of her entire future through meditation? She rubbed her eyes. Perhaps…no. That was a very bad idea and would likely get her in heaps of trouble. Oh. Heaps of trouble. She'd just snuck out last night. She'd just lost her opportunity to impress Near. It was all gone. What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Near was playing Cat's Cradle with silvery white string. He and the task force had just finished monitoring the halls of the middle school on the newly implanted cameras. He called their attention, and they all turned in their chairs to listen.

"Earlier we concluded that the victims share a possible connection – they were either bullies or honors students. Normally, since the two are so different, this would be a missing link. However, through our observations from today, I think it is safe to assume that of the five suspects we've profiled…one of them is middle-Kira," he said. "The first: a moody, reproachful boy who refuses to speak to anyone on his own, and when he was approached throughout regular intervals in the day, he shot people down. This is not exactly suspicious behavior on its own, however, at this extreme caliber… it is very likely that this person is middle-Kira.

"The second, third, and fourth demonstrate similar behavior, but it is not likely they are middle-Kira. However, we must pursue the possibility," he went on.

"And the fifth is an interesting student. Their movements differed from the other suspects. They were not suspicious regarding their behavior to other students – they simply observed and watched students throughout the day. Gathering names to be recorded in the Death Note, I wonder?"

"Are you sure about this, Near?" Aizawa asked. "It seems unlikely that we should be able to make these kinds of assumptions after one day of surveillance."

"I do not think so," Near said. "I've come to regard middle-Kira as an exceedingly stupid individual. Clearly he doesn't care about what we think of his behavior. He has not responded to M's threat either. His actions are very blatant, and we can assume that it would be present in his everyday activities, exactly like the first suspect."

"So what do you want us to do?" Mogi asked.

"We need to obtain their student files. It's possible we'd be able to rule out certain suspects and narrow down our search. As I've said, I am quite certain that middle-Kira resides in our pool of suspects," Near said. "However, this school is very old fashioned and does not have an electronic database. You will need to go in and get the paper file. Let's see…everyone but Ms. Lidner will go to the school."

They nodded and got up, Lidner remaining in her seat. They filed out the door.

"Good luck," Near smirked. He reached for the remote and turned off all of the monitors that were displaying the school. Lidner looked at him, surprised.

"Yo+u aren't going to watch them?"

"Of course not," Near said. The string he was playing with tangled and he tossed it to the side rather than fixing it. She looked uncertain but turned back to the papers on her desk.

* * *

Markel tied her newly orange highlighted hair back in a braid and pulled on socks.

"So, Markel, what do you think?" Jasper asked.

"I've got a pretty good list of suspects. Four of them. But there's one that stands above the rest. He's sort of a freakshow but I've been pretty nice to him. We should be fine."

"Profiling," Jasper nodded sarcastically. "Nice."

"Come on," she said, and started to walk towards the ladder. He followed, but bumped into her as she stopped abruptly.

"What?" he said.

She waited for a few more seconds.

"Nothing. Just had a thought. Nevermind."

They ascended the ladder, Jasper in front.

"Oops. I left the stupid trapdoor open."

It started to rain as night fell. Markel wasn't wearing shoes, but she didn't comment at all as they ran toward the middle school.

* * *

Alpine rubbed her arms as she walked towards the middle school in the rain. She'd only just managed to escape out the trapdoor before the two had gotten there. She would've been caught if the girl called Markel hadn't stopped.

But she knew what they were doing now. Headed to the middle school to find a student file. They were M, and they were looking for middle-Kira.

She hadn't quite decided whether she approved of their efforts. After all, they were technically opposing Near. She hadn't forgotten her anger while she read the M webpage. But maybe…they were in on the case purely to prevent the deaths of middle schoolers.

She arrived at the middle school, and walked around to a side entrance, grabbing the door handle.

Out in the front, a car parked and emptied of the SPK agents, who slipped into the double doors.

In the back, the two young friends opened the door to the school and walked in.

* * *

**Oh, em, gee. This is going to be fun.**

**By the way, the hair dying thing was my sister's idea but I forgot to mention that in the last chapter. So, there. Now she's happy. I guess.  
**


	15. Infiltration

**Oh whew. This was a long chapter, but it was incredibly FUN to write. I know it gets ridiculous in some spots, but I needed a bit of comic relief.**

**See if you can spot the easter eggs in it! **

**The theme song for this is pretty much Yakkety Sax (Benny Hill). Lol.**

* * *

The lights in the school were off. The grey atmosphere from the rain clung to the hallways. It was designed to be an airy building, though, with large windows that would let a lot of natural light in on a sunny day.

When the agents were all inside, they made sure to wipe their feet on the carpet carefully. The rest of the school was tile, and it wouldn't be productive to turn their job into a slip 'n slide. Matsuda let out a loud sigh and stretched his arms.

"Wow," he said. "That rain all but punched holes through me."

Aizawa rolled his eyes and started towards the office. He turned the doorknob. No surprise that it was locked. He nodded at Gevanni, who reached into his jacket and withdrew a long, thin utensil. He fiddled with the lock with his deft fingers until it clicked, then replaced it in his pocket.

The five of them filled up the cramped reception area, and they squeezed their way through a door to an isolated hallway lined with administrator offices. At the end of the hallway was a metal door. It opened easily into a large room full of filing cabinets.

"Okay," Rester said. "Of course we don't have the names of our suspects given that we've only been monitoring them through our surveillance equipment." He handed each of the men a printout. They were photographs.

There were three boys, and two girls.

"Of course, the first two are our primary suspects. We'll be identifying them based on these photos. There are almost 700 students in this school, so we need to move fast. We don't want to be here all night."

They spread out among the filing cabinets, occasionally consulting their printouts.

Matsuda fanned out the pages, looking at the first two.

The first was a boy with long, shaggy hair and a pinched face. His eyes drooped unhappily, and he was scrawny – a blatant ectomorph physique.

The girl had a heart shaped, pleasant face with her hair pulled back in a braid. She wore a large sweatshirt and jeans.

He shook his head. He couldn't believe a child could be suspected in the death of his or her peers.

Something flashed in the corner of his eye and he looked up at the doorway in surprise. He set his papers on top of the folders and stood up. Mogi glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Matsuda leaned into the hallway. No one. He took a step out and almost slipped. There were fresh puddles of water. They themselves had specifically wiped their shoes as they came in. That meant…

He gestured for Mogi silently. The other agents looked up at him.

"I think someone snuck in after us," he whispered, despite the vacant hallway. Resters' features darkened and he exchanged glances with Aizawa. They came to some sort of silent conclusion and they both reached inside their jackets.

Matsuda looked horrified as weapons emerged.

"You don't think it's middle-Kira? Why would he be here?"

"Mogi and Gevanni, take the back wing," Rester instructed. They left, now wielding their own weapons. "Aizawa and I will walk the rest of the school. Stay here, Matsuda."

Matsuda reluctantly backed into the wall, out of the line of sight of the door. He put his hand on the inside of his jacket, on his weapon but didn't draw it.

He waited in silence.

He could only remember how it had felt to wait while he thought his name had been written in the Death Note. Twice, actually. Once when the shinigami Rem killed L, and again when Teru Mikami waited outside the door of the warehouse. Whoever he had seen…what if they had been there for longer than he thought? What if it was middle-Kira, and he had the shinigami eyes…?

Matsuda gritted his teeth and wrapped his hand around the concealed weapon. He couldn't just stand here.

* * *

Alpine was surprised that the door to the office wasn't locked. She pulled it open and continued down a narrow hallway (a tile one. She tread carefully. She wasn't looking forward to an introduction with the ground.) with a door at the end. It was open, and she walked right up to it.

She jumped back, out of line of sight of the door. Shit. There were people in there. She had caught a glimpse of Rester and Gevanni. The young police officer from the monitor room, the huge gorilla one, and the last man who had been tailing her. And the young, black haired officer had seen her.

Or almost seen her. She turned around and fled down the hallway as fast as she could without making squeaking noises. Why hadn't she taken off her shoes or wiped her feet?

She was almost certain that he wouldn't dismiss it as a trick of the eyes. Someone would be coming out any moment. She pulled her hair back into a bun and hid it under her baseball hat. If she was seen, she'd be in huge trouble.

She hit the reception office and slipped out the door, careful to pull it closed. Then she sprinted down the hallway, towards a commons area with a grand staircase. She sprinted up it two steps at a time.

Where should she go? An empty classroom? A bathroom?

There – a utility closet. Perfect. She could hide in there. She seized the handle and jumped inside, not noticing as it failed to close completely.

Okay. It was quite dark. She felt her way through it. Turning on a light would be risky.

She kicked something extremely resilient and grabbed her foot. Due to the bitch called Collateral Blind Pain, she slammed her head against a shelf a few times. The pain in her foot dissipated and she held her head. Ow. Ow ow ow.

Still, she managed to keep the whole affair quiet. After a few moments, her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out dim outlines. A smile slowly spread across her face as she spotted a particularly useful piece of equipment. After every movie she'd seen, she'd always wanted to try this out…

* * *

Jasper and Markel pulled the door at the back of the school open. His shoes squeaked on the tile as they walked down the hallway and she threw him a look.

"What? Don't tell me your drenched socks are comfortable."

"They definitely don't squeak like tortured mice."

He laughed and started to bump her shoulder, then his eyes widened and he gripped the hood of her jacket, dragging her to the side. She yelped indignantly but he ignored her and kept pulling until they were hidden inside the girl's bathroom.

"What the f-," she started but he clapped a hand over her mouth.

"There's someone else in the school," he hissed, and listened.

There were definitely footsteps and whispers in the hallway, getting closer.

He shoved her in a stall and squeezed in beside her. She stepped up on the toilet seat and pulled him up beside her.

"Get your elbow out of my eye," she grunted quietly, her voice muffled from behind his arm.

"Sorry."

They stilled and listened.

They heard the voices get closer and closer, until they were inside the bathroom, right outside the stall.

For a sickening moment, Jasper thought they were going to check the stalls, but then he heard sounds of them leaving the bathroom.

He relaxed in relief, but as he did so, one of his wet shoes slipped off the toilet seat, landing him ankle deep in the toilet water.

"Eew," Markel said.

* * *

Immediately after the intruders left, Jasper and Markel burst out of the stall and slipped out of the bathroom, glancing at the backs of the men Jasper recognized from Wammy's House.

"Great," he muttered to Markel as they walked speedily towards the office. "Them."

She glanced backwards even though they had long since left that hallway.

"Your teachers? I guess Near is onto us. Or onto middle-Kira."

"The Japanese police too. I guess Near brought them in to help with the middle-Kira case. After all, the Japanese police originally handled the original Kira. They could help."

Jasper looked around and pulled the office door open.

"This way," Markel tugged at him and they entered a hallway.

At the end of the hallway was a room stuffed with filing cabinets. Some were half open. Markel reached down and picked up a sheaf of papers that was resting on top of an open drawer.

"Hey," she said. "It's me."

Jasper took the paper from her. Sure enough, it was a grainy picture of her in the school hallway.

"Near suspects you? Great."

"I blame you for tripping over him."

"That had nothing to do with you."

She flipped through the other papers.

"These are all the other students that I suspect to be involved with middle-Kira. With the exception of me, of course. Near is pretty good." She stopped flipping through the pages, looking at the one that was now on the front. "This is the kid that I think is most likely to be middle-Kira. They're probably here looking for his file. His name is Skandar Bouros. I hope they haven't already gotten it."

Jasper squatted in front of the B file cabinet, opening it.

"Barker…Bentel…hey." He pulled out a thick file that was splitting down the middle bound with heavy rubber bands. "Your last name is Bloch? I never knew." He opened it and flipped through it. "This is _yours_?"

She glanced at it and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. But it's nothing _bad_. I just have a lot of crap as a charity case."

He scanned the file.

"Oh, my God," he said in disbelief. "Did you really _do that_?"

She snatched the file out of his hand.

"She recovered just fine, thank you," she snapped. She stuffed it messily back in its place. "Could you find the stupid file, James?"

Jasper thumbed the folders.

"Got it," he said, pulling it out.

"Come on," she said. They walked out of the room.

"Do you think those detectives will be wandering around now?" Jasper asked.

"Probably not. They had a lot of hallway left to check. At least fifteen minutes worth. It's only been about ten," she responded. "Either way, we should probably find a way to cover our faces. We know that they're here, but if they even see our faces, we're both sunk."

She pulled her jacket hood over her head. It was so massive that the cowl cast a dark shadow over her face. Jasper patted his jacket for something he could use. Finding nothing, he grimaced and took off his scarf, winding it around his face.

Markel took one look at the finished product and burst out laughing.

"Oh shut up, he said gruffly, sweeping past her.

They walked out of the main office, getting ready to walk out the front doors.

"What if they've got people watching the doors?" Jasper asked.

Markel considered it for a moment.

"You're right. We should sneak out from a window or something. The only ones in this school that open are the ones in the library. Which makes no sense. You have troubled middle schoolers, and the builders are like: 'I think we'll design the second floor windows to open and not any of the others!'"

Jasper snorted and they quietly made their way to the grand staircase. Markel nodded at Jasper and they tiptoed up the stairs.

* * *

Mogi and Gevanni left the bathroom and swept the rest of the hall, thoroughly checking classrooms. Finding nothing after about fifteen minutes, they turned and started walking cautiously back to the front of the school. When they reached the commons area, they walked around the staircase.

"Hey," Mogi said. "Look."

Gevanni followed his gaze towards the office lobby, where Aizawa and Rester were.

"We didn't find anyone," Mogi said, when they had regrouped. "Do you think Matsuda was just being Matsuda? Maybe made a mistake?"

"It's possible," Aizawa said. He looked at Rester. "Should some of us continue to patrol the hallways while the others look for the files?"

Rester nodded.

"But stay in this general area. We should probably be within shouting distance. After all, we didn't bring any means of communication."

Rester, Gevanni, and Aizawa walked back into the office, leaving Mogi standing in the lobby.

He wasn't alone for long though – the three agents burst out of the office door after a few minutes.

"Someone is definitely here," Rester said breathlessly. "The papers we left were tampered with, and there's a missing file."

Mogi looked surprised.

"Did anyone check the library?" he asked. The agents exchanged looks and they all ran towards the commons area, up the grand staircase.

* * *

Matsuda glanced around, hoping that he wasn't going to get caught sneaking into a closet. The door was slightly ajar, and it looked suspicious. He slipped in and flicked on a light. His eyes narrowed as they settled on a ladder. He followed it upwards – there. A ceiling panel was pushed to the side, revealing the insulated vents above.

He climbed up the ladder with difficulty. It was unsteady. Poked his head up through the hole. No one in sight. He boosted himself up into the ceiling.

The vents were huge, but he'd still have to crawl. Now – which way? He reached into his jacket to rest his hand on his weapon.

* * *

Alpine heard a commotion somewhere beneath her. She found the nearest vent and peeked through the slats. She was above the grand staircase, near the library. The men ran up the stairs and pulled the door open to the library. She crawled in that direction.

What had their panties in a wad?

* * *

Jasper and Markel crouched behind a bookshelf as the four agents burst into the library.

They hadn't managed to get the window open before they'd heard them coming. Markel, who was obviously sore about having been dragged into the girl's bathroom, seized Jasper by the scruff of his jacket and pulled him behind the nearest bookshelf.

Jasper peeked through the gap in two books. He was reminded absurdly of the raptors in the kitchen scene of Jurassic Park as he watched the agents stalk around in the center of the library, by the circulation desk. He bit his fist through his scarf to hold back a snicker. Maybe they'd tap their three inch talon toes, or jump up on top of the shelf and make chirping noises.

Markel looked at him trying to avoid laughing like he was insane. He mimed bobbing his head like a velociraptor and pulled his arms into his chest, fluttering his hands. He looked more tyrannosaurus-rex than he would've liked, but Markel seemed to get the reference and snorted.

They crawled around the bookshelf, further back in the library as the agents started to split up.

It didn't seem quite so funny now. They were twice more than Jasper and Markel, and the library only had so many places to hide.

Jasper jumped as a voice called out through the silence.

"We know you're there. Come out now and we'll be lenient. We're police and armed. You are trespassing."

Markel shook her head. As if he had even considered it.

Then she did something that scared Jasper out of his wits.

She threw her hood back and blew an enormously loud raspberry back at the speaker. Thumbed her nose, even though they couldn't see her. Jasper reached up and jerked her hood back over her head violently but found himself hiccupping with laughter.

_Oh, the fun we have together._

Jasper heard running footsteps coming toward them. They had obviously located the source of the sound. He scrambled around the corner of a few more bookshelves, leaving Markel behind. She peeked through another gap in the books. Yep, there they were. Moving really fast.

Too bad the ceiling above them just collapsed.

* * *

Matsuda grumbled and turned another corner. His back hurt really badly by now. He had probably only wandered about thirty feet through the vents. His ears perked up as he heard shouting. He walked toward it, and turned another corner.

_Wham._

He collided with something. He clutched his head and looked up to see what he had hit.

And so did the person he had run into.

He wasn't able to see their face – the bill of their baseball hat was pulled too low, but he could tell that they were slightly shorter than him. They stayed that way for a moment before the person spoke.

"A naked lady walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm, and a two-foot salami under the other."

Matsuda looked shocked.

"She puts the poodle on the bar and says-,"

The floor shuddered. Too much weight in one place, Matsuda had time to suppose, before the panels dropped out from beneath them.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHHH !" the person yelled as they both fell.

* * *

Alpine continued in the direction of the library, where she saw the men headed. When she was over it, she turned a corner to look for a vent she could peek out of.

Ow.

Her head whacked into something and she looked up.

Oops. Not good.

A thought occurred to her, no doubt borne of the head injury she had just sustained.

"A naked lady walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm, and a two-foot salami under the other," she said. "She puts the poodle on the bar and says-,"

The floor splintered and she was cut off.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHHH !" she yelled, as her stomach dropped and she fell.

* * *

Markel gaped as the agents scrambled out of the way to avoid the falling debris.

And people.

The ceiling of the library was lofty, but not a dangerous height to fall from. The people landed safely in a tangle of limbs. She couldn't recognize them, but wasn't going to wait around. She stood up and ran to catch up with Jasper. He had started coming back her way at the noise, but she shoved him and he turned around without argument and fled the library through the side door with her.

* * *

Alpine felt like a dying goldfish. She struggled to suck in a breath of air.

Why did she feel like 170 pounds of weight had been dropped on her? Oh right – because it had.

She squirmed out from under the dazed policeman, checking that her hat was still pulled over her face.

Only a few seconds had passed since the incident, and those present were still frozen with shock. Gevanni was the first to thaw. He leapt toward her. She scrambled to her feet.

"I forgot my pencil," she choked out, after getting a wisp of breath. She whirled around and started to run but Gevanni caught her sleeve.

Desperation fueled her and she twisted away. He lost his hold and she ran the other direction.

The other agents came to their senses at this, but the pile of Matsuda and ceiling tiles was between them. She was out of sight even before they had taken a few steps.

Matsuda groaned and picked himself up out of the rubble.

"I don't even think that joke _had_ a punchline," he muttered. "Where'd they go?"

"Ran off," Aizawa said with a scowl. Matsuda sighed.

"I fell through the roof for nothing then?"

"How many are there?" Rester demanded.

"I only know of the one I just fell on," Matsuda said.

Aizawa shook his head.

"We were in here chasing someone else. We heard them. There's at least one more, possibly two."

"Oh, man," Matsuda whined. "What if they're all middle-Kira?"

"It could be," Rester nodded. "Just now, we gave them fair warning that we were armed. We offered leniency. We now have no choice but to use force."

The other agents looked sick but they all nodded. Matsuda still looked reluctant but said, "I guess it's too bad we don't have phasers to set to stun."

"Knock it off, Matsuda."

In unison.

* * *

"Now what?" Jasper asked as they ran side by side down the hallway.

"We still can't risk a door," Markel answered. "We need to lure them away from the library."

"Why are we still running?" They skidded to a halt at a hallway intersection.

"Got the file?" he panted.

She held it up, but in the next moment, shot off in the other direction, down a hallway.

Puzzled, Jasper looked around.

Crap.

Mogi and Rester turned the corner. Jasper pressed himself against the wall, behind a row of lockers. They hadn't seen him.

But they would walk right over him if Markel didn't do something quickly.

* * *

Upon hearing footsteps, Markel turned and ran off down the hallway. The steps were too close for her to warn Jasper, but she hoped he'd pick up on it.

When she got to the end of the hallway, she cursed. She'd walked these halls every day, but she'd somehow managed to pick the only dead end in that junction.

She relaxed with her back against the wall, looking head on at the men as they approached. They stopped in the junction, but not because they'd found Jasper. She stared straight at them, and they stared back at her shadowed face.

She ignored them as they tried to talk her out. They hadn't drawn weapons, despite their earlier threat. She must look cornered. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Looked for something she could use.

Aha. Inspiration.

She reached to her side and flicked the lights off.

The hallway was cast into utter blackness.

On the other side of the hall, Rester pounced on the lightswitch.

Light.

Markel smirked.

Dark.

Light.

Dark.

Light.

She saw Jasper at the far end of the hallway, behind the two men. He nodded at her but she couldn't acknowledge him with those two looking straight at her.

Dark.

Light.

He had disappeared. Markel felt a giggle work its way through her. Here she was, having a lights war with the people who could catch her and Jasper, leaving them to be ridiculed by Near.

It was just so funny.

Dark.

She snorted and burst out laughing, and as the lights flicked back on, she saw their faces twist in confusion.

Dark.

"Damnit, Mogi, go!" the lights-man yelled. The larger agent started charging down the hallway towards her.

Aside from her laughter, which had crippled her breath, she watched calmly as he got closer and closer.

Dark.

Light.

Dark.

Light.

She concentrated on her timing, wiping away the tears that had sprung from her glee.

Dark.

Markel threw herself to the side, feeling air displacement as she narrowly avoided Mogi. She rolled along the wall, then kicked off.

Light.

Sprinted towards the other end of the hallway. The lights-man stepped away from the wall to intercept her. She was going far too fast to simply change direction. She ran straight on even as he drew a gun out of his jacket.

He fired once – twice, before she barreled into him. They both hit the ground hard and she rolled off him, kicking him once for good measure.

Still laughing, she darted around the corner and ran off.

* * *

Alpine peeked around the corner. Nothing. She held her side and limped down the empty hallway. She had been moving slowly ever since she'd fallen from the ceiling. Nothing was severely injured, but every stepped jarred her heavy bruises.

Then she found herself on the ground again, head throbbing.

"Fuck. Would everyone _stop running into me_?" she said loudly.

The person who had run into her was breathless with laughter.

"Sorry," they wheezed, scooting away from Alpine.

Oh.

Shit.

Alpine looked up into Markel's hooded face.

* * *

Rester was up only a few moments after he felt a sharp kick in his side. The lights were off again. He found his way to the switch and flipped them on.

Then he retrieved the gun he had dropped. He had no idea whether or not he had hit them.

"Ugh," Mogi grunted, rejoining him. "What is keeping them in the school? I feel like we're running in circles."

"I don't know," Rester said. "But this needs to end soon."

* * *

Jasper ran off when he saw Markel playing with the lights at the end of the hallway. She'd be fine. She was in her element.

He turned a corner, headed back towards the library.

He burst out of the hallway into the open area with the grand staircase in the middle. Perfect. Now there was a straight shot to the library. He walked around the staircase. He growled and turned on his heel and ran the other way.

Perfect for entirely different reasons.

"Hey!" Matsuda shouted, running after him.

Jasper turned the corner, picking up speed. He raced toward a utility closet and jumped in. He jumped around a ladder and hid behind the door.

Matsuda burst into the closet.

"Not again!" Jasper heard him say.

Jasper darted out from behind the door, and in the same range of motion, grabbed the handle and jumped out of the closet, pulling it closed. He locked it.

To hell with the library. He headed downstairs to wait for Markel to appear.

* * *

Markel scooted away from Alpine. Of course. This was only what she'd been waiting for ever since she'd discovered her laptop had been tampered with. Alpine was the only one who would be smart enough to even make it this far. She only wished it had been under different circumstances.

As in, not after they had just whacked skulls and were lying on the floor of the hallway.

Awkward exchanges were avoided however, as Aizawa skidded around the corner, weapon pointed straight at them, less than four feet from them.

Before Markel could do anything, Alpine solved the problem. She threw herself at him, sweeping his legs out from underneath him with a well placed kick. He landed with a thud and his gun went off, firing wildly.

Markel and Alpine got up quickly and ran off.

* * *

Markel ducked into a bathroom and locked the door. She stood in front of the mirror and yanked her sweatshirt off. That was three times she'd been around a fired weapon. She jerked her shirt up and checked for holes. Patted her legs, her back. Her arms. She flinched and turned to look at the back of her arm. It was bloody. She looked more closely.

It was minor – just a shallow nick. Maybe a ricochet.

Either way, she would survive. She sighed with relief. It wasn't part of the plan for her to die today.

Markel left the bathroom after picking up the file she had balanced on the sink, glancing both ways. She headed toward the library.

* * *

Alpine had had enough. She had lost the battle, and she was taking herself out before she got any more wounds. How was she supposed to cover it up tomorrow morning? She ran down a hallway, looking for a back staircase. There had to be more than one in this school.

There. She ran down it and turned a corner, pushing her way out the double doors. When she was outside, she jogged off, not sure where she was headed yet.

* * *

Matsuda pounded on the door for what felt like hours. It was unyielding. He glanced up at the ladder uncertainly – no. He refused to go up there again.

He sighed and sat down on a box, putting his head in his hands. He waited.

* * *

The four agents regrouped outside the library, by the grand staircase. They milled around, wincing at new bruises.

"Where's Matsuda?" Rester asked.

They all glanced around. Indeed, he was not with them.

"Who knows?" Gevanni muttered.

Aizawa massaged his temple, looking at his reflection in the glass of the library doors. He stopped, squinting as he caught sight of something behind him. He turned around quickly, trying to locate what he had seen.

His eyes narrowed and he gripped his weapon under his jacket. Last chance.

"There!" he shouted. The rest of the agents jumped and turned to where he was pointing.

The intruder with the sweatshirt on was running toward the staircase.

The agents rushed toward them, and instead of going down the staircase, the intruder changed directions and grabbed the railing. Aizawa pulled the gun out of his jacket and started to fire as they vaulted over the railing. They dangled for a moment, then dropped.

* * *

Jasper felt like a sandbag had been dropped on him. Then a millionth of a second later, it got even heavier, like a bank safe.

He dropped like a stone, but since his shoulders and back got the worst of it, his head wasn't crushed like a watermelon when he hit the ground. He groaned and automatically pushed what had fallen on him off. It flew a foot or two (he had pushed it quite hard) but it came back angrily.

"Get up," it hissed, grabbing his shoulders and rolling him. That answered the first question. Only Markel could be so dogmatic. He voiced the second.

"Why did you fall on my head?" he asked. She kept pushing him and he jumped as a gunshot went off. He stared at a hole in the tile a few feet from his head.

"Okay," he said agreeably, and allowed Markel to pull him to his feet. He looked up and saw Aizawa taking aim over the railing.

Okay. Whew. Run fast.

"What about the library?" Jasper asked as they wove through the hallways at top speed. The agents couldn't be far behind.

"Screw that," Markel snarled. "We'll risk the door. I'm sick of this. We've got what we need, and we've kicked their asses plenty."

Jasper laughed because it was true. They were the ones with the guns. He and Markel were kids.

They burst out of the school and into the rain (Markel stuffed the file under her jacket), whooping with triumph.

* * *

Aizawa slammed a fist into the wall. How could they have been so bested? He and the rest of the agents had just wandered the halls, calling for Matsuda. They found him locked in a closet.

"Thanks, guys," Matsuda muttered.

"You idiot," Rester said. "How did you even manage that?"

They returned to the office to get the remaining files. The room was cold and musty feeling – like they hadn't been there for months. It had probably only been about a half hour.

Mogi thumbed through the files, pulling out a thick one. He handed it to Rester who looked at it darkly, flipping through it.

"There's one," he confirmed.

Mogi looked through the cabinet again, but spread his hands in confusion.

"The other primary suspect must be the missing file."

Rester sighed.

"Get the other minor ones. We need to get back. Near is going to want to hear about this."

* * *

**Wow. Yeah. That was a bit of a doozy. When I was writing it, I had to write this ENTIRE CHART about who was doing what at one time while this person was doing this. It's so hard to keep that many character straight at one time, especially when they're interacting with each other in a space like a school. Jeezums.**

**I worked very hard on this chapter. Please review! 3**


	16. Aftermath

**I had a question about this…the town referred to in this fanfiction is not actually Winchester, England. It is just a weird little town adjacent to Wammy's House that I invented because I don't know anything about Winchester.**

* * *

When they were a few blocks away from the school, Markel urged Jasper to go straight to Wammy's House. It was true that the agents hadn't left the school yet, but they'd be bathouse crazy to get to Near after the events of that night. (And they had a car.)

It wouldn't be productive for their anonymity to have him climb into his window wearing the culprit's scarf.

When he assured her he'd stick to the woods on his way back, she snatched his scarf from him and made encouraging fluttering motions with her hands to get him to go already.

"Wait," he said, stopping and taking the few steps back to her. "I'm going to do whatever I can to find out what Near got out of tonight. What happens if he's closer than we think?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Markel said distractedly. "Let me know, okay?"

Jasper didn't notice her agitation and nodded with a lopsided smile. Then he turned and disappeared into the rain.

A few hundred feet from the building Markel's attic was in, she became aware of someone following her. Markel shoved her hands into her pockets. The rain masked any distinguishing characteristics of the footsteps, but it could only be one person.

She forced this situation to occupy her mind – the other things she had to think about…that would not do.

She was just peeved that Alpine was every bit as good as Jasper had said.

That's all, for now.

When she got to the attic, she sat on the back of the couch and stared at the place Alpine would appear. It wasn't long. The trapdoor opened and the hammering of the rain briefly dwarfed all other sound, but then, there she was.

She was soaked to the bone, shoes wet, her jeans heavy with rainwater. Her hair hung half across her shoulder and face. The bill of her baseball hat dripped steadily onto the ground in front of her. She didn't look surprised to see Markel waiting there.

"Mouse cursor," Markel said.

"Huh?" Alpine said stiffly.

"I left my mouse cursor on the start tab. You left it on the Internet browser."

Alpine nodded and water droplets scattered. Markel reached backwards and grabbed a towel off the couch and tossed it to her.

"You covered for me earlier," Alpine said. She pulled her hair out of the band and took her hat off. "Why?"

Markel watched her wring her long hair out into the towel as she answered.

"When I chased…Jasper off or when I ran into you?" she asked.

Alpine scoffed and gave her a look over the towel.

"Technically, when you ran into me, I covered you. By kicking Aizawa."

"Okay, fine," Markel granted. "But I still chased Jasper off when you fell through the roof."

"If you were in the library when that happened, I saved you by distracting them."

Markel threw her hands up. No wonder James got into so many fights. She was infuriating.

"Okay, _then what occasion are you talking about_?"

"Well, first, you didn't tell Jasper about me being on your laptop. And then you stopped him before you guys got to the ladder so I could leave earlier." Alpine twisted her hair back into a ponytail and started to towel down her clothes.

"That was just to keep you from dripping all over the floor," Markel supplied, simply because she wouldn't allow Alpine to be the only obnoxious one. Even though she was drenched too. "You're just going to get wet again when you leave."

"You didn't answer the question," Alpine said, ignoring her.

Markel shrugged and stayed silent. She watched Alpine continue to dry off.

"How about this," Alpine said finally. "What do you have to do with Wammy's House? Why did you help Jasper on our covert op assignment?"

Markel maintained her poker face, but wasn't able to stop the twitch in her jaw. That was a new one. She had no idea that Alpine had seen her that day. That had been a mistake.

But nothing like what she had coming to her. She forced herself to stay on topic – she could not make this conversation go any faster.

She crossed her legs and tried to put on a pleasant face.

"That's what friends do."

"Please. I don't think that's a very good ulterior motive."

Markel pursed her lips. Alpine had impressed her. She was persistent. She was intelligent…she could be perfect for what Markel had in mind.

Okay. Let's do this, then.

"I think I should start out by saying that I know all about the inner workings of Wammy's House. I know about Near, and L, and all of the history. I know about Kira," Markel said, leaning forward determinedly. Alpine nodded and sat down on the floor with the towel beneath her.

A thought occurred to Markel. She paused.

"Speaking of which, why are you interested in this anyways? I'm just curious. Why'd you start following Jasper around?" she asked.

Alpine picked at the edge of the towel.

"I can't believe I'm telling this to you of all people."

Markel snorted.

"Join the club."

Alpine's face cracked into a grin.

"Yeah. I guess everything gone to shit anyways. Why not?"

Markel smiled and tucked her feet up underneath her. It was a precarious position for the back of the couch, but she managed. They stared easily across the room at eachother.

You'd think there'd be some deep-seeded loathing.

Nope.

"Well," Alpine started hesitantly. "If you know about Near, then you know that he was L's first successor. And Jasper and I are in line to becoming Near's successor." She glanced up at Markel, who inclined her head silently.

"I guess if you've been talking to Jasper for awhile, you know about our rivalry. It seems childish in retrospect."

Markel put her hands in her lap.

"What do you mean, in retrospect?"

Alpine brushed imaginary dust off of her wet jeans.

"I think my chances of succeeding Near were pretty much shot in the ass these last couple days."

"Why do you think that?"

Alpine told the story of what she had done after eavesdropping on Markel and Jasper in a bitter voice. Markel listened while rubbing the soles of her feet together.

"So you assume Near now sees you as an incompetent, unstable fool?" Markel clarified. Alpine nodded. "You don't seem too torn up about that."

Alpine shrugged.

"What if they're right? What if my inability to carry out my intention makes me an unsuitable successor?"

"Well, don't get me wrong. I appreciate that you didn't tell Near and get Jasper and me arrested, but I don't think you should worry about that. But I guess my opinion is introverted. After all, I have no love for Near or succession," Markel said, her mouth twisting.

"I'm not surprised. But why?"

"No one person is worthy of becoming another," Markel said flatly. There was a note of finality in her words, but Alpine pressed anyways.

"Not truly. But the name of L and the name of justice are different. There needs to be someone to solve the crimes no one else can solve."

"It doesn't matter," Markel said, shaking her head. "Such a thing should not be an ultimatum for anyone. No one should feel defeated because they weren't able to make a warped cut."

"But it's not really an ultimatum. The Wammy's kids always find some sort of future as highly competent graduates. A girl named Linda went to school with Near, but she grew up to be an artist."

"Think about the way things are classified at Wammy's House though," Markel insisted. "Rankings posted on the wall? L used to do direct broadcasts to the students, urging them to follow in his footsteps no matter what their standing was. How does that not suggest a be-the-next-super-genius-or-fail situation?"

Alpine jammed a thumb to her temple.

"Okay. I respect your opinion, but I can't talk about this anymore. I grew up wanting to be nothing other than Near and I can't stand the thought that I've been thinking the wrong thing for my entire life."

Markel hugged her arms.

"But I haven't quite made my point. Do you mind?"

Alpine grimaced and nodded like it wasn't easy.

"Jasper and I go back. A ways. I won't grief you with the details." Markel flashed her teeth at Alpine. "He has been trying to…I guess discredit is a good word…discredit the process of succession. Of course, he hadn't made much progress with all the resistance from you."

She smiled and continued. "And until now, it had seemed sort of hopeless. Then middle-Kira came along, and we became M. So…by catching middle-Kira, we'd sort of be proving to Near that we don't have to be him to do what he does. We don't even have _to want_ to be him."

"But why is it any of your concern anyways?" Alpine said with a shadow of defensiveness.

Markel toned it down a bit. It wouldn't do to turn Alpine away at this point. She muttered something noncommittal to appease her and Alpine softened.

"Ugh," Alpine sighed. "I have to get back. But…"

Markel looked at her shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"I won't tell Jasper about us meeting, if that's what you want."

"Well, that's partially it. But, I was going to ask…" Alpine closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Could I join you looking for middle-Kira? I don't think there could be anything better for me than to test my abilities on a real case. Maybe figure out where I stand."

Markel parted her lips in surprise, but on the inside, she was warmed with triumph. Perfect.

"Er," she made herself sound hesitant. "Well, I don't know. How would you hide something like that from Jasper? And the only thing we've ever known of each other is how to oppose the other. Would it really work?"

"I'd be willing to try," Alpine said eagerly. "I really need to do this for myself."

Markel relaxed and smiled. "Sure. I don't think that there could be anything better for the investigation at this point."

And she meant it.

* * *

When the SPK rejoined Near in the monitor room, he was kneeling in a chair beside Lidner. There were silver jacks and a black and white ball in front of him.

"Have you obtained the file?" Near asked softly. Matsuda rubbed the back of his neck and smiled nervously, undoubtedly about to say something stupid.

Rester cut him off.

"We experienced some trouble, Near," he said. Near set the ball to the side.

"I'm aware. But have you managed your task?"

"Partially. We were able to get the files of the minor suspects and one of the majors. But the other major suspect's file was gone."

Aizawa nodded.

"We think that is was stolen by whoever was there resisting us."

Near scooped the jacks up, cupping them in his hands.

"And have you any guesses as to who this resistance must be?" The agents shifted and exchanged glances.

"Middle-Kira. We think that he may have broken in in order to obtain the names and faces of those he wishes to kill," Rester said.

"A reasonable speculation," Near said calmly. He dumped the backs back onto the counter in front of him. "May I see the files?" He held out a hand.

Gevanni pulled them out of his jacket and handed them all to Near. Near looked at them, then dropped all but one file onto the counter, sweeping both the files and the jacks away from him unceremoniously. He flipped the bulging file open.

A plain school photo was clipped over mounds of paperwork. He brushed it aside after a glance, focusing on the contact information. Markel Bloch. An unusual first name for a girl. Birthdate: June 27, 2006.

Address…

"Ms. Lidner," Near said. "Is there a 1127 Boro Street in our database?"

She tapped a few commands into her computer. Then…

"No. There's no such place."

Interesting.

"A Brian or Michelle Randall?"

…

"No."

"Perhaps Bloch?"

…

"No."

"Interesting," he murmured, out loud this time. He perused through a few more papers. He allowed himself a smirk as he read through the records.

"Her turbulent history reminds me of Mello quite a lot," Near said absently, mostly to himself. He paused. "A lot like Mello," he said again, tasting the words as he spoke them.

Near was silent for quite a period before the agents behind him started fidgeting. He twirled a lock of hair around his index finger.

"Rester, did you take the necessary actions regarding the fiasco at the middle school?"

"Yes," Rester nodded. "We cleaned up the…er…ceiling tiles and um…"

"Bullet holes," Matsuda put in helpfully. Rester shot him a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, those."

Near didn't seem to hear but the first part of the confirmation. He continued to play with the ends of his hair, thinking.

"I would like our major suspect to be trailed from now on. None of her contact information is legitimate. And since we were not able to get the file of the second suspect, we should have him followed as well," Near said. "Mr. Matsuda is out of the question – he has to substitute my class. How about Mr. Mogi and Gevanni?"

The two nodded.

"You are all dismissed," Near said. "Thank you for your efforts tonight. You were most helpful."

The men all filed out, leaving Lidner to look sideways at Near's profile as he continued to look over Markel's file.

"Near," she started. "Why did you shut off the cameras earlier tonight?"

Near looked up from the file, but not at her. He picked up a jack and rolled it between his fingers with one hand. He thought for a moment, then allowed a smirk to crack through his stony contemplation.

"I turned off the cameras…because I couldn't allow the game to end simply because my opponent made a mistake. After all, I'm working on being more generous." He set his chin on the table and picked up Markel's school photo, staring at the frozen image.

Middle-Kira?

Or M?

* * *

As soon as Alpine had left, Markel slipped off the back of the couch and walked around it. She considered picking up her laptop, but didn't think she'd be capable of paying attention to the screen. Instead, she made her way into the back room with the ratty mattress and climbed up onto the top rack of the closet and buried her face in her arms.

She allowed the full impact of her mistake from earlier that night to engulf her. How stupid could she get? She had picked up the papers that suggested Near's goons were after her file, but she'd left it there like an idiot. It was only a matter of time before they figured out none of the information was true and she was pursued. And when that happened, it'd be all over.

Things had to be wrapped up quickly, before that could happen.

Alpine's involvement was bound to make things easier. She'd keep Jasper busy while Markel was free to go about her plans.

And that made her feel even worse. She didn't want to use people. She didn't want to keep James in the dark. But she had to. She'd twisted every event of the past couple of days around her finger to get it to work in her favor. If she didn't, she wouldn't be capable of carrying out her plans.

"I'm so sorry," she muttered into her arms. But her eyes were dry. "I'll make it up to you though."

_I promise._

* * *

**I've decided that I subconsciously picked out theme songs for my OC characters.**

**Markel: Pink - Trouble**

**Jasper and Markel: We The Kings – Stay Young**

**Alpine: Tomoyasu Hotei – Battle Without Honor Or Humanity**

**I don't have one for only Jasper at the moment. I'll think about it. He's quite difficult to sum up. Stay Young is PERFECT for Markel and him though.  
**


	17. Pointed Inquiries

**Rather short of a chapter, my apologies.**

* * *

Alpine hobbled into Near's classroom, looking out of the corner of her eyes for anyone who may have noticed her strange limp. No one was looking at her, so she gingerly lowered herself into the seat farthest in the back, wincing as she sat down. She couldn't help but glance at Matsuda, whose head was bandaged, and at Jasper, who had his arms slung over the back of his chair and his neck bent backwards so his face was pointed at the ceiling with his eyes closed.

She groaned as inaudibly as she could and slumped down in her seat. She was tired and sore and feeling her gravity-rich descent from last night. This, Jasper noticed.

"Rough night?" he said sympathetically. She nodded before she could stop herself.

"Yeah. Late studying," she corrected herself quickly. Jasper lips curled and he put his head back again.

"Ow."

"You have no idea."

Alpine shut her eyes and tried to ignore her throbbing bruises. Gradually her concentration was siphoned from her as Matsuda started to talk about nothing in particular. How annoying. All of them had spent the night doing exactly the same thing, but Matsuda knew nothing of Jasper or her, and Jasper knew nothing of her.

They all suffered in silence.

* * *

Markel rubbed her eyes. They felt like sandpaper after she stayed up all night working. She skipped school partially to continue her plans, but also because she was sure that Near would have someone waiting for her at the building.

Skandar was middle-Kira. That much she was certain of. Of course she had no proof – but she just knew. But his behavior ever since the first deaths...it could be no one else. Now it was just a matter of proving it to the world. It was an intuitive leap.

She leaned back against the sofa. Could Near have cameras set up inside the school? It seemed likely. At this point, it was vital that he did…she could use that to her advantage.

In her tiredness, she felt her mind spacing off again. She pulled herself back on track. She had no time. She had to be ready by tonight. Markel pulled her laptop toward her and typed up an email. She read it over a few times, then glanced down at Skandar's stolen file. She verified the email.

Hit send.

* * *

During lunch, Jasper detached himself from Alpine and made his way back to the monitor room. He didn't quite have a plan yet – he was just going to walk in and play his part. Maybe he'd coax something interesting out of Near.

It was a great idea from Wammy's brightest.

He pushed the door open and stepped into the dark room.

"Okay," he announced to the inky blackness, "if there are any small successors to L in this room to trip over say so." He was met with silence, so he took a few confident steps. Almost immediately, his knees struck something, tossing him head over heels. He caught himself on his already-sore-shoulder and rolled to a stop.

"Ow!" he complained. "Damnit, what did I say?"

"You said 'Okay, if there are any small successors to L in his room to trip over say so.' I hope you did not truly need reminding, Mr. Jasper. I was under the impression that your head was unharmed both after your fall and…other injuries you may have sustained in the past two days," came the answer. "That was an impressive tuck and roll."

"Shut up, Near," Jasper grumbled.

"Hmm," Near said, flicking the light on. "You sound remarkably like Mello when you say that." The significance of his comment was lost on Jasper. Instead, Jasper sat down on the desk chair and pulled his knees into his chest.

Near's dark eyes settled on him. He was kneeling in the center of the room again, with the small puppets standing around him.

Jasper wasn't able to look too closely at them without being suspicious, so he couldn't recognize which puppets they were.

"What is your intent?" Near asked. "Why are you in here?"

"Iuunnoooo," Jasper drawled, grasping the line that Near threw him to get back into his obnoxious act. "Why? Does it bother you?" He spun around in his chair.

Near didn't answer. He just reached down and adjusted a puppet absently, not really moving it.

Jasper sighed heavily and teetered on the edge of the chair. When Near didn't look up at him again, he dropped from the chair, landing on his knees, then fell forward onto his stomach. Near adamantly ignored him. Jasper dragged his body along the floor with his arms until he was a few feet from Near's assortment of puppets, putting his chin on his hands.

He was able to see them now. There was the little white Near puppet, surrounded by the SPK members: Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, Mogi, Aizawa, and Matsuda. There was his Jasper-puppet. Off to the Jasper-puppet's side was a gold puppet, and a black one with vivid stains of color on it. Something about their placement made Jasper's skin crawl.

"Why do you spend so much time on the floor?" Jasper asked to cover his observant silence. Near didn't answer.

No surprise.

"Okay. How about…why is Matsuda still subbing your class? I've seen enough Monk to last me a lifetime."

Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zip.

"Is talking against the Albino Code of Conduct?"

"What are your thoughts on the middle-Kira case?" Near asked suddenly.

Jasper answered smoothly. "I haven't been paying much attention. You and your posse hog the monitor room all day. It's not like I have been up-to-date on all of its workings."

"And M?"

Jasper readjusted his chin on his hands.

"Charming bloke."

Near smiled and curled his hair around his index finger.

"I don't doubt that."

The door to the monitor room opened and Roger walked in. Jasper raised his head off his hands and gave him a cheerful smile.

"Mr. Jasper, you should join your classmates in the dining hall. Please."

"But I'm having a stimulating chat with Near, here." But he got to his feet, careful not to step on the little figures. He left the room, glancing back at the puppets. He felt a chill, looking at the colorful painted one, only a few inches from the Jasper-puppet.

He sauntered back toward the main part of the school, lost in thought. The questions Near had asked were curious – and far too pointed for Jasper's liking.

He'd have to mention it to Markel tonight. They needed to speed up their investigation. Near was dangerously close.

Jasper couldn't help but think of the odd puppet. It resembled the standard human form – it had no specific characteristics – but the splashes of color looked exactly like the blacklight message Markel had drawn on the suit of the news anchor. Obviously it was meant to be associated with M, but why was it so close to the Jasper-puppet? What did Near know?

* * *

**Albino Code of Conduct. It's a real thing.**

**No it's not but I don't care.**


	18. Puppets

Skandar raised his eyebrows when he clicked on the email. The first line was a single letter. M.

"Hey, mum," he called over his shoulder. "Email for you."

Marcy Bouros emerged from the other room with a dishtowel over her shoulder. He scooted over in the computer chair to make room, keeping his eyes politely averted from the email. He was looking up into her face as the worn lines around her otherwise pretty face tightened.

"Go keep an eye on the potatoes, will you, love?" She smiled weakly at him.

"Right," he said, hopping off the seat. When he was gone, Marcy rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, wow," Awe said, leaning forward to peer at the email. "That's that person from the news awhile back, right? Looks like they got you."

Awe was a Shinigami with a large, trunklike tail. Her body was lithe and gangly, but she had spindly arms, a domed head, and locks of matted ashen hair. She was painfully idiotic at times, but Marcy knew she could be terribly cruel.

"Aw, that's alright, Marcy. Just give up the Death Note. You and Skandar will be free to go." She patted Marcy's shoulder and smiled maternally at her.

"I can't. I haven't finished protecting him yet," she whispered, glancing at the door to the kitchen.

"But you've killed the kids who bully him. And the ones who get better grades. Even your ex-husband. Isn't that enough? He's happy."

"Yes, but what about next year? And the year after that? And high school and college?" Marcy said. "He needs me."

Awe pursed her cracked lips and made a _hmm_ing sound.

"But won't you get in trouble?"

Marcy let out a low, humorless laugh.

"Oh, tons. Killing people isn't accepted in stride in the human world."

Awe clapped her hands together in delight.

"How scrumptious! Humans are so silly. The generic human death is no more tragic than crushing an ant and yet you humans have warped and interwoven it with morals!" Marcy looked at her darkly and Awe turned her cheeriness down into a lilting smile. "And punishment. What are you going to do?"

Marcy turned her eyes onto the tiny black M on the screen.

_M._

_You are middle-Kira. You have been killing local middle schoolers. You may either come to the school at 11pm tonight to negotiate your arrest, or I will come to you and it will be the end of things, no questions asked. I trust you to make the correct decision. _

Marcy rubbed her sweaty palms on her knees.

"I'm going to tell him."

She stood up and walked into the kitchen, Awe's dry slither following her. Marcy called for Skandar and he looked up from a cookbook and smiled.

Marcy picked the pot of potatoes off of the burner, setting it on a cool one. Skandar looked at her oddly but she just put her hands on either of his shoulders.

"Skandar, darling. You know I love you, right?"

"Of course," he said.

"And I'd do anything to help you?"

"Yes, but wh-," he said, but she shook her head.

"You used to have trouble at school, and with your father, remember? But you're happier now." Skandar nodded again but Marcy was still hesitant.

"I think I should show you first. Telling is more difficult." She straightened up and retrieved a black notebook from a locked drawer. She handed it to him and it passed under Awe's bulbous nose for a moment. He touched it, then looked up at his mother. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Awe.

He yelled and reeled back into the stove. He jumped away from the heat and cried, "What is that thing?"

Marcy reached to steady him. He looked wildly at Awe, who was doing her best to look menacing.

"This is Awe," Marcy said. "She's a Shinigami."

"A what?"

"A God of Death," Awe grinned grossly and stuck out a clammy hand. "Pleased to meet you, Skandar. You have those lovely pajamas with the dinosaurs."

Skandar ignored her hand and looked at his mother, who shrugged.

"She's been here for a couple weeks. She's seen it all." Awe nodded enthusiastically and started to reel off all the characteristics of all the pajamas he had worn in the past two weeks.

Skandar turned his attention back to the Death Note in his hands.

"That's my Death Note. Awe dropped it into this world and I've been using it to help you," Marcy said.

"Help me how?" Skandar muttered, flipping through the pages slowly.

"Whoever's name is written in that notebook will die," Awe said ominously.

"Die?" Skandar looked shocked. "You mean those kids…Mark and Emily and them…this notebook killed them?"

"Your mother killed them," Awe simpered.

"That's enough," Marcy said sharply.

"And your father."

"Shut up, Awe."

"What? You wanted him to know. I'm just helping."

Skandar looked up from the notebook.

"So you killed them for me?"

"Yes," Marcy said anxiously. "And you were so ecstatic when they were gone…so I kept going. When your dad started making calls, I could tell it was hurting you…and I killed him."

"But now she's in trouble with some human who found out it was her," Awe put in.

Marcy bit her lip and nodded.

"So what are you going to do?" Skandar asked.

"I'm not sure. I have to be at the school tonight or they threatened to come here. If only there was a way to kill them before they catch us." Marcy furrowed her brow.

"Oh, I think I know how," Awe said. Her lips peeled back in a cruel smile, eyes growing and burning like hot coals.

* * *

"Blub. Blub blub. Blublublublub," Jasper blubbed. Alpine was looking at him with the ultimate expression of bewilderment. "Blubblublub."

"What are you doing?" Alpine said in a measured voice, as if she were debating whether it would be prudent to put him out of his mental instability right then and there. She seemed to be leaning in favor of violence, weighing a book in one hand, but then Jasper looked up from Mello's fishbowl.

"I'm talking to Mello."

"I can see that," Alpine said. "But…why."

Jasper shrugged and picked the fishbowl up, turning to that his back was to the bookshelf, and sliding down into a sitting position.

Alpine stopped hefting the book, and opened it back to the page she had been on before she had felt inclined to use it as a weapon.

They were in Alpine's room, working on a paper. The assignment ought to have been easy if it had been any other book. They'd been working on it for almost an hour and the only thing they had managed to write on the paper was their names.

"Ookay," she said, looking at the huge chunks of prose she really did not want to be reading. "If James Joyce was on fire, and I had a glass of water, I'd drink it. Really. This stupid book has no point. It's a hoax. And I swear that Joyce made up this word." She squinted at the book.

"I think its point is that it doesn't have a point," Jasper said. He dipped a finger in the fishbowl absently and watched Mello's fish-face bump into the tip. "If anyone ever claimed to truly understand Finnegan's Wake, even someone like Mother Teresa would want to deck them. Because it's impossible."

"'Muzzlenimiissilehims'…," Alpine murmured, still concentrating on that single word.

"Noun, adjective, or verb?" Jasper asked.

"I'm not even sure." She bit her fist.

"Oh. Okay. Animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

"I'd have to guess…animal. Just because it's a filthy beast of a word."

Jasper skimmed a fingertip along the surface of the water.

"I'm not even concentrating on the meaning," she complained. "I'm just trying to make my eyes stay on a single word long enough to try and figure it out. They keep getting lost somewhere else on the page."

"How about we take the F?" Jasper suggested.

Alpine snorted derisively.

"You think your grades can afford it?"

"I am number one."

"Yes, you will be the smartest corpse in the cemetery. Assuming I leave a body for them to bury."

"Is that supposed to make me blush? Oh, oops, too late."

"Shut up."

* * *

At 8:00, Markel had no preparations of any kind to delay her or appease her mind. She'd been pacing back and forth since 7, and was finally coming to terms that all she could do was leave.

Before she climbed up the ladder, she looked back at the attic she'd never gotten around to cleaning. Maybe she could take something with her to occupy her until 11. It felt like she should have something in her hands – she didn't know what to do with them. She shook her head. She'd never been materialistic.

The sun was setting – the wispy clouds sheared the orange light into soft rays. She walked all the way to the school with her face tilted skywards.

Markel touched the handle of the door and hesitated. She took a deep breath and opened it. It was unlocked. Now, where to go? Middle-Kira wouldn't be there for another three hours. Eventually she settled herself at the foot of the grand staircase.

The large windows let in the red sunset, and the hallways caught fire. A thought briefly flashed across her mind – the very first sentence from Fahrenheit 451: It was a pleasure to burn. She was not in a dystopian society. That had been abolished with the death of Kira. And it certainly wasn't a pleasure to burn. Not like this. But she couldn't help but repeat the sentence in her mind, over and over.

It was a pleasure to burn.

And that was what she was doing, wasn't it? She had pushed everything out of her way and set what she had kept on fire. As 11 o'clock approached, she watched the flames engulf everything. And now she wished she had brought something to take her mind off of it.

What had James said? Near plays with toys. Puppets.

Hadn't she realized that everything she denounced was a part of her in some way or another? Near wasn't the only one with puppets. She had tricked James and Alpine to get to this point. She was where she wanted to be. How could she now be concerned about the holocaust that she had instigated? She closed her eyes.

Even the darkness behind her eyelids was aflame.

* * *

The monitor room was dark but for the single small light in the center of the room. Near was lying right beside it, softening the glow as it radiated off his snowy white pajamas. The white sheep plush was once again tucked into the crook of his arm, but his attention was on the finger puppets.

His own ghostlike puppet was off to the side, surrounded by the SPK members. The gold, painted, and Jasper-puppet were grouped together a few feet away. He had added small structures into the mix – a toy Wammy's House, and a middle school. Of course, the SPK was beside the Wammy's House. The other puppets were midway between the school and the agents.

And new additions: a silver puppet and the old black one holding a scythe.

Near pushed a button the microphone beside him.

"Roger, please ask everyone to come here immediately. Yourself included."

"Of course."

Near caught the silver and Shinigami puppet, sliding them close to the middle school. Then the painted puppet caught his eye and he added that to the group. His eyes settled on the gold and Jasper-puppet. Those were variables he wasn't yet sure about…

"And check on Mr. Jasper and Ms. Alpine on your way down, please."

"Alright. I will."

When they were all assembled, Near turned over onto his side and looked up at them.

"Gevanni?"

"One of the subjects didn't even come to school today. I checked with the attendance office," Gevanni said.

"The boy was there," Mogi said. "Nothing suspicious. He walked to school, attended class normally, then walked home. I stayed outside the home for a few hours, and nothing odd occurred."

"So we can now determine the identity of the first subject, given that Mr. Mogi followed him to his house. Ms. Lidner, please," Near said. Lidner walked over to the desk and turned on a single computer monitor. "So if Markel Bloch wasn't at school today, we can say that the likelihood of her being middle-Kira has increased slightly. However, a single absent isn't enough to accurately deduce anything."

Lidner turned around in her chair.

"Skandar Bouros. He lives with his single mother. And…," her voice caught. "His father recently died of a heart attack."

Near looked up.

"A single mother…a child…and an ex-husband. That validates a lot of possibilities that middle-Kira is within that household. Especially since the father was killed. But what if our two suspects are involved with each other somehow? Say that Markel Bloch killed the ex-husband."

None of the agents answered, quietly mulling this over.

"But when we observed them through surveillance cameras, they seemed to have little to no contact. I don't believe this was an act…therefore middle-Kira is most likely Skandar Bouros." Near picked up the silver puppet and rolled it between his fingertips. He set it back down and looked at Roger.

"Where were Mr. Jasper and Ms. Alpine?"

"In her room. Nothing suspicious. They appeared to be doing work."

"Please turn on the cameras outside of their windows."

Lidner turned back to the screens and pushed a button. The roof and window flashed into view on two monitors.

"We should watch this carefully in the next few hours," Near said. He pulled his sheep plush into his chest and continued to stare at the little assembly of puppets.

* * *

Jasper discussed Finnegan's Wake with Alpine idly over the next two hours, staring down at Mello the goldfish, who was infinitely more interesting than stupid James Joyce. He looked up at Alpine, who was feverishly scratching at the paper and growling obscenities at it.

"Don't hurt its feelings."

"I'm prepared to hurt worse than its feelings if it doesn't cooperate with me."

"You can't blame it. You've erased it so many times that you've destroyed its structural integrity."

"It deserves to die."

She erased it some more. Jasper sighed and slid down the bookshelf. He'd steadily slid down further and further as he got more and more bored. He was now nearly lying on the floor, with just his head against the shelf. Mello peered across the landscape of Jasper's chest and into his face, giving him a sleepy look.

Jasper sneezed randomly, jarring Mello. When they had both recovered, Mello gave him a snotty look and swam to the other side of the fishbowl.

"I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Alpine snapped. "You should be helping me."

"I'm taking the F," Jasper said.

"Fine," Alpine said, giving him a look just like Mello. "But I'm erasing your name off this paper. I refuse to help you earn a grade you don't deserve." She leaned down to do so, and ended up ripping the corner of the page off. She looked ready to smash skulls, so Jasper put Mello on the highest shelf. He wasn't necessarily out of her reach, as Alpine was taller than Jasper, but maybe he'd survive anyways.

Jasper scooted out of the room cautiously, ready to bolt if Alpine looked like she was going to attack him. When she didn't, he shut the door and made his way down the hallway, back to his own room.

Mello would probably be spending the night in her room – Jasper had no intent of going back. Instead, he squirmed out the window in his room, hopped through the trees, over the wall, and headed towards town.

As soon as the door shut, Alpine jumped up, the paper fluttering to the floor. She crossed the room and yanked the door open, following him. He walked into his room, and she peeked in. She saw him leave through the window.

_Crap._

She went into the room and walked over to the window, pulling it up again.

"A few days ago I would've had a panic attack even thinking about sneaking out. Now look at me," she muttered as she slid down the roof.

* * *

Matsuda gasped.

"Near! They left!"

"Yes, I know," Near said. He picked up the gold and Jasper-puppet and slid them closer to the school. "I want you to follow them. Call Roger when they arrive at their destination."

Rester nodded and he and the other agents filed out. Lidner hesitated on her way out the door, like she was going to say something but then she just shrugged and left with them.

Only Roger and Near were left in the monitor room. Roger glanced down at Near.

"What is it?" Near asked, noticing. He pushed the agent puppets next to other two puppets.

Roger's shoulders shook with laughter.

"It's so inappropriate, but I think they may have caused even more trouble for Wammy's House than Mello and Matt themselves."

Near smiled softly.

"Perhaps."

* * *

"This is weird," Skandar said, blinking rapidly. "How do you do this, Awe?"

Awe sniggered. Marcy looked concerned.

"I never meant for you to have to give up half your lifespan for this."

"Don't worry." Skandar smiled at her reassuringly. "There was no other way. I'm just a little freaked out. Why can't I see your lifespan again?"

"Because she's a Death Note owner," Awe answered him.

"Oh. That would have been interesting to know," he said disappointedly.

"So, we're clear on what you have to do?" Marcy asked.

"Yep!" Skandar said cheerfully. His new Shinigami eyes turned to crescents when he smiled. "Go to the middle school, get M's name. Then you can kill them!"

"And you've got the phone?"

He nodded and held it up, clicking a picture of Marcy.

"And you know how to send it quickly?"

"Yeah, I know. Can I go now?"

"Yes. Be very careful, Skandar. We have to do this quickly and efficiently. Then M will be out of our hair forever." She smiled with satisfaction.

* * *

**Blub blub. Blubblublubblublub. :)**


	19. Inferno

It was pitch dark, but Jasper managed to make it through the thick trees and to town without seriously injuring himself. Glancing around, he ran through the outskirts and turned into the familiar alleyway.

The route was like an old friend to him, but he felt his nerves prickling with every step. Which was dumb, because he'd walked to Markel's attic in the dark before. At one point, cat ran over his foot and it took every ounce of self control not to shriek like a little girl.

"What is wrong with me?" he muttered after recovering.

He dragged the trash can under the fire escape ladder like always and pulled himself up. He stopped suddenly when he was standing on the roof. He looked across, at the door. It was swinging open slightly. Jasper cautiously made his way toward it, peeking in.

There was no one there. So why was it open? Markel wouldn't have left it open – she was even more security conscious than him. He took a few steps inside and felt around for the pile of crates that covered the trapdoor. He was met with nothing, but felt the edge of the trapdoor. He pulled it open and dim light flooded the tiny shed. The crates were on their sides, piled weirdly, like they had fallen over.

Jasper was met with a sick feeling. What was going on?

He dropped through the trapdoor and walked into the attic. It was lit and just as messy as always, but there was no Markel to be seen.

"Anne Frank?" he called, hoping to evoke a reaction from her. When no one answered, he walked into the tiny room with the mattress and opened the closet. Nothing.

He reentered the main room and searched for her laptop. He finally found it under a huge pile of laundry. When he opened it, a password box popped up.

"Crap," he said. Password…password.

He tried _Mello. _Nothing. _Jasper? _Nope. _James? _He was beginning to feel vain. He tapped his fingers on the laptop. Hmm.

_Dahlia_?

The laptop hummed an annoying little Windows opening sound and the screen flooded with colors. He squinted at the top window. He was faced with a block of text.

The first line: _James,_

"Jasper."

Jasper jumped violently and turned, expecting Markel.

Instead he got Alpine.

* * *

"He went into some derelict building," Aizawa said gruffly into the comms unit. "We've circled around to the front and left Mogi and Rester by the fire escape."

"Take no action," Near's voice came through the earpieces. "Mr. Mogi and Rester, stay where you are but hide yourselves."

"Right."

They waited in silence for a few minutes, Matsuda drumming his fingers on the seat.

Mogi spoke quickly through the comms.

"Alpine just climbed up the fire escape. Should we engage?"

"No," Near said. "Stay where you are."

Back at Wammy's House, Near nodded to Roger. He pushed a button and the wall of monitors filled with images of the middle school. The centermost one displayed the grand staircase, with a small dark figure on the bottom step.

Off to the side, on another monitor, a door opened.

* * *

"Jasper."

He jumped and turned around, eyes widening in surprise.

"Alpine?"

"No. It's Kris Kringle. What are you doing here? Where's Markel?" she asked.

"You tell me!" he fired back.

She opened her mouth to respond but then glanced backwards, at the ladder.

"Crap. I forgot. They're outside."

"Who?" Jasper asked.

"Near and our teachers," she said hurriedly. "We've gotta go."

"_Near left_?" Jasper gasped. "I didn't know he did that."

"Well, I don't know for sure that he's there. I didn't see. But we're already half caught, let's _go."_

Jasper glanced at the laptop and reluctantly closed it.

"So I guess I'm supposed to accept the fact that you already know who Markel is instantly?" Jasper asked as they flew up the ladder and ran to the edge of the roof.

"I met her last night," she whispered. They peered over the edge of the roof. The black car was just visible. "After we got back from the school."

"School?" he yelped. "You mean…?"

"Yes," she said. "The library ceiling, to be exact."

"Oh, right," he nodded, feeling lost. "Got it." Why did he feel like everything was being kept from him?

Then it hit him.

"Oh, God," he said, horrified.

"What?"

Car doors slammed beneath them.

Jasper ran to the ladder and heard the car peeling off. He climbed down in a blur, Alpine right after him. He gasped with pain and surprise, looking down at his hand.

He'd cut himself on the edge of the ladder. It wasn't terribly deep, but it was nearly two inches long and oozed blood, making his hand slippery.

"What is it?" she hissed, but he didn't answer, continuing climbing.

They sprinted down the street alongside each other, but he was thinking too hard to explain.

Markel…

She'd do anything to get to middle-Kira before Near. Absolutely anything. The conversation between them in the alley, on the morning of the Covert Ops assignment flashed through his mind. He'd been yelling about her intentionally keeping things from him. Her reaction: guilty. More guilty than he'd realized at the time.

And she saw Alpine that night at the school. She hadn't told him about that either. She'd pushed him out of the way as they escaped the library.

She'd do anything to beat Near.

He remembered how sure she'd been as she announced that Skandar was middle-Kira.

"_Hey, it's me," she said brightly, holding up the grainy picture from a security camera_.

And then…

_"She recovered just fine, thank you," Markel snapped, stuffing the file back into the cabinet._

She'd left her file for the SPK to take. They'd easily figure out none of her contact information was true. It was such a simple mistake…but she knew that they'd be onto her because of it.

So she'd went ahead and confronted middle-Kira before she could be apprehended by the SPK.

The picture of her in the school hallway…

"_Hey, it's me,"_ echoed through his mind.

"_Hey, it's me."_

Near had cameras in the school. That's why the SPK had just torn off in that direction.

Markel was there. And so was middle-Kira.

* * *

"Stay outside," Near ordered. "It's already begun."

"But Near," Matsuda protested. "That's middle-Kira in there."

"If you walked in now, you'd be shooting at children. I think that is much worse than turning Light Yagami into swiss cheese. You are safe where you are, standing by. We must watch how events unfold," Near said. "M got to middle-Kira first, fair and square. As an opponent, it is on my honor to leave him to his battle. So please."

Matsuda's shoulders sagged.

"Not cool," he grumbled. "Do you know how much counseling I had to have? I refuse to listen to another shrink tell me to mentally 'build a bridge' a thousand more times."

Mogi snorted uncharacteristically but covered his microphone to hide it.

* * *

Markel stood up an instant before the doors opened. It was not a dramatic entrance by any definition. Skandar was so meek that it was like he'd never even walked in at all.

He stopped in his tracks, right before the doors. Markel was only fifteen feet away.

"You," he said, sounding surprised.

"Hey!" Markel said cheerfully. She took a few steps toward him, hand extended. "I'm M."

"Stop!" Skandar yelled. "Stay right there or I'll kill you!"

Markel stopped.

"_You're M_?" he cried in disbelief. "You're in my _history class_."

"Yep!"

"Markel Bloch."

"Well, yes," she said, now wary. "I didn't think you knew my name though. I mean, it doesn't really make a difference, but you were always rather introverted."

"I didn't. Not till now."

Right. No wonder this kid was middle-Kira. He had a few screws loose.

"I can't believe you're M. We were worried about you?" he went on. "I probably don't even need to kill you to be scot free."

"We?" Markel inquired.

"Oops," Skandar leered. "Guess I _will_ have to kill you now. I gave us away." He fixed his deranged stare on her. "My mother. She's the real middle-Kira. She killed the students for me. The oh-so-smart honors kids. The stupid jerks who throw things then look the other way."

_Huh. Good thing I don't put jackshit into my work, otherwise I would've been among the first victims._

"She even killed my dad for me." His fingers curled into claws and he flexed them, kneading the air. His sneer split into a perverse grin.

"But why?" Markel felt the conversational lilt drop from her voice. Skandar's gestures and body language were putting her on full alert.

"Because he left my mother. He kept calling, trying to convince me to live with him. He said she was crazy," he croaked. His eyes were bugged, and veins in his neck stood out. He looked quite mad. "But she's not! She killed them to protect me!"

He clenched his fists, spit flying from his mouth.

"SHE KILLED ALL OF THEM FOR ME AND SHE'LL KILL YOU TOO. SHE'LL KILL YOU FOR TRYING TO HURT US. YOU'LL DIE AND THEN WE'LL BE FREE. WE'LL KILL ANYONE WHO GETS IN OUR WAY."

Markel took a few steps back, shocked. This was going downhill far faster than she'd expected. She tried to intervene with his shouting, but he kept getting louder.

"WE'RE GOING TO KILL YOU. WATCH US KILL YOU! SHE'LL WRITE YOUR NAME IN THE DEATH NOTE!"

She sprinted towards him, about to knock the lights out of him. He pulled out a phone and pointed it at her. She was so surprised that she skidded to a stop.

Click. It flashed.

He pulled it back in and rapidly pushed buttons. Markel recovered and started running again. She swung her fist up in a wide arc, catching him under the chin. The phone flew out of his hand and skittered across the tile. He fell back against the wall, and she barreled into him, ramming him in the chest with her shoulder. He gagged and slid down against the wall. He tried to roll to the side but didn't get very far before she cut him off with a foot.

She was about to grab his shoulders and pin him to the wall but then a spark struck.

Tongues of flame licked the edges of her vision and she gasped as heat exploded in her chest. The same heat she had resisted earlier that night. She was burning – burning from the inside out. She forced herself to look up, even as the fire seeped into her eyes. She could see a methodical red beeping light through the inferno; she allowed a smile to touch her lips, even though now her face was twitching and sweating with the conflagration. She had won. She had proved it. Near had seen the whole show.

James. A red-hot knife slashed through her vision, tearing it in two. The world split and shriveled into two halves. Her regret…

Then, mercifully, the flames were quenched – the fire extinguished.

And she settled into a cool silence.

* * *

Skandar rubbed the place where Markel had hit him and stood up, coughing. He glanced at her. She was leaning against the wall, lifeless. Like a doll. He felt pride swell in his chest, behind his new bruise. He had killed her – they had killed her. They win. M was dead. And there was no one to get in their way now. He retrieved the phone, then left the school through the side entrance and ran home.

* * *

Jasper and Alpine shot toward the school like bullets.

"What's that?" Alpine panted, pointing at the entrance.

He looked up at where she was pointing.

"Damn," he growled. He could make out a few SPK members leaning against the side of the building by the doors. He and Alpine wouldn't have time to go through another entrance – the other ones were probably blocked anyways. "We are going to have to run through them. If we go fast, they won't even know what hit them. All we need to do is get in the building – it doesn't matter if they follow us."

She nodded, sweat glistening on her forehead.

They sped up, getting closer to the doors. The agents hadn't even looked up yet. Some professionals they were. Jasper put his head down and streaked past the agents. He slammed into the doors, then grabbed the handle and jumped in the building.

It was dark, but when he turned around, the doors didn't open at all.

"Alpine?" he whispered, looking around. She wasn't there. He sighed. His hand throbbed. He didn't know what to think though. Perhaps she was just slow. Maybe she did something more heroic. Either way, he took his advantage and walked further into the school.

* * *

Alpine glanced at Jasper right before they ran past the agents. His glare was firmly fixed on the door. She slowed just slightly and he flew at the door. Alpine darted to the side quickly, and ran straight at the agents. She clenched her jaw so that she didn't bite her tongue off and ran headlong into them.

She managed to knock Matsuda down, then ran between Rester and Aizawa, causing them both to stumble.

"Red rover!" she shouted, but then ran into Mogi. It probably would've been more productive to run into the brick wall. She bounced off of him and ducked to the side, but then Lidner and Gevanni appeared out of the shadowed doorway and grabbed her forearms, holding her in place.

"Oh, hello," she said, wincing at their bone crushing grip. "Ow."

* * *

"Matsuda, Aizawa, Rester! Follow middle-Kira! He left the school from the side entrance!" Near commanded through the microphone.

"We're on it!"

Near turned to the monitors and watched as Jasper headed toward the atrium. He looked away again.

"Lidner, Gevanni. Don't let Alpine get away."

* * *

Matsuda jumped in the driver seat of the car and waited till the other two doors slammed before hitting the gas. He screeched around the corner.

"Turn the headlights off," Rester ordered.

"Huh? Oh, right."

"There he is!" Aizawa said, pointing past Matsuda's head out the windshield. Skandar's small form passed through a pool of light from a streetlamp. Matsuda inched forward slightly, until Skandar broke into a run, turning a corner.

"He's seen us!" Rester shouted.

* * *

Skandar held his chest and panted shallowly. He was nearly home, but he was being followed. Still running, he flipped open the phone and called his mother. She answered on the first ring.

"Skandar! We did it! M's name is in the Note! Is she dead?"

"Someone knows!" Skandar gasped. "They're following me. You have to do something."

"Oh, no. Can you make it home? You've seen their names and faces, right?" Skandar skidded around a corner, and the black car ran up on the curb, screeching across the sidewalk. Skandar ducked into an alley, reflexively closing the cell phone. He was now headed the wrong way from his house, but he'd managed to evade the car. He could continue on through the back streets until he got there. It'd only be an extra few minutes. He walked along the edges of the alley, towards the walls of the buildings. It was darker, and if he was followed, they wouldn't be able to see him.

* * *

Marcy put a hand to her face. Behind her, Awe was cackling so madly that she had to grab the kitchen counter to keep herself from falling over.

"Shut up," Marcy said harshly to Awe. Awe just kept laughing. Marcy clenched her eyes shut and bowed her head, thinking.

Skandar had hung up…did that mean he had been caught? She wouldn't be able to count on him coming home and being able to write his pursuers' names.

"Awe, what will happen if I relinquish ownership?" she asked.

Awe hiccupped, putting a hand to her mouth.

"It wouldn't get you out of trouble. Technically, you sublet the Note to him, allowing for him to trade for the Eyes. Skandar would still be guilty, as the Note would pass to him. And odds are they'd trace him back to you."

Marcy rubbed her temple.

"What if…" she paused, trying to put the thoughts together in her mind. She clenched her fists until her fingernails bit into her palms, drawing blood.

"What if we both died?"

Awe's grin slowly etched itself back onto her face.

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" she asked, her voice oily. "If you died, then the ownership would transfer to Skandar. But if you both died, the ownership would go back to me and I'd get to get the hell out of this rotten world – back to the Shinigami Realm."

"And there'd be no evidence leftover?"

"None," Awe purred.

Marcy took a deep breath and picked up the pen. The blood from the crescent shaped cuts on her palms smeared on the white plastic.

"I told you I'd protect you, Skandar," she muttered to herself, adjusting the pen so it didn't slip from her grip as it bloodied. "And I am."

Awe chuckled, a cruel rumble rolling in her throat.

* * *

"Get out!" Aizawa yelled. Matsuda hit the break, and the car fishtailed, swinging around to they were adjacent to the alley Skandar had disappeared into. The three men spilled out of the car and sprinted into the alley.

They reached the end of it, puzzled. It opened into a well-lit street lined with houses. There was absolutely no place he could've hidden with them so close behind.

"Where'd he go?" Matsuda muttered.

"We must have missed him back in the alley," Rester said. "I'll stay here and look around. You two go back and check."

Matsuda and Aizawa turned around and combed the dark alley. There were no branching alleys, so it was a straight shot up and down, although it was still pitch black at the edges. Aizawa walked over to the edge, running a hand along the wall. The toe of his shoe hit something soft and he stiffened. He whispered for Matsuda and they looked down together.

They both came to the same sick conclusion at the same time.

"Go get Rester," Aizawa said grimly. He pressed his talk button for the comms. "Near, we found him."

* * *

Jasper tiptoed toward the grand staircase. It was centrally located, so he figured that was the best place to be. He kept glancing back, expecting to be dogpiled by the SPK, but it never happened. His hand continued to seep blood, but more slowly. It covered his palm and fingertips, and he kept sliding them together in perverse fascination.

He opened a door slowly, peeking inside. He saw nothing but the staircase, so he eased himself in. He jumped as something worked its way into the bottom corner of his eye as he walked forward. He leaned down, trying to see what it was.

A numbness stole over him – cold air rushed into his lungs and they shriveled in horror. A sweatshirt and jeans…a long dark braid. He reached down mechanically and brushed the hair to the side.

A purple flower.

The bottom of his stomach dropped and he gently touched the earring, unsure of what to think. He withdrew his hand and stared at the red fingertips. He looked back at the earring.

The dahlia was marred with crimson. His remorse had ruined her.

He backed up, eyes fixed on the traitorous red. His stomach lurched and he whirled around, trying to avoid being sick. When he had composed himself, he started to turn around to look at her again. He stopped, then straightened up. He walked out the door, out of the school, out of conscious thought.

His face hit the cool night air, but it was evil. It struck at him, at his face. He reached up and scraped his fingernails down his face to try to rid himself of its touch.

Jasper looked around, in all directions. Then he started walking forward. A few feet later, and he broke out into a run.

He ran until his lungs burned and his eyes blurred from the jarring motion. He ran until he was out of the streets, past the outskirts, and into the woods.

Then he kept running.

At last, his legs gave out and he crashed into the mulch, splinters cutting into his hands and face.

He panted, taking in shuddering breaths until he realized what he was doing. Every breath he took was raw agony – an insult. He could he be so cruel? He was breathing and she was not. How dare he complain of pain when she felt nothing. _Nothing._

And yet he could not stop.

Nothing nothing nothing.

_I'm so sorry so sorry I'm so sorry Markel I'm sorry _

He screamed until his throat was in ribbons.

He could not stop.

He rolled over on his side and vomited.

Selfishness

Traitor

How dare he

She was dead dead dead dead

And he was alive, betraying her.

He vomited again.

Finally, tears stung his vision. They fell until his eyes were swollen and he was half blind.

But alive.

Please.

Exhaustion took over and nothingness blotted the rest of his vision.

* * *

Near pulled his eyes from the monitor as soon as Jasper turned and walked out the doors again. He pushed the button on the microphone and addressed Lidner and Gevanni.

"Please escort Ms. Alpine back to Wammy's House." He took his finger off the button, and, in an afterthought, pressed it again. "And Mr. Mogi, I'd like you and Rester to go to middle-Kira's home. You know where it is. Go there and…see what you can see." He cut the connection off on that note.

"What about Jasper?" Lidner spoke through the comms. Near glanced back at the hallway on the monitor.

"Do not enter the school. Just come back with Ms. Alpine. That's all."


	20. Dahlia Flower

Alpine stood across the room from Near. He had his back to her, looking at a wall of monitors. Roger was standing off to the side.

"Where is Mr. Jasper?" he asked.

Alpine crossed her arms.

"Probably in his room studying," she said, turning her nose up. "Where else would Number One be?"

"Ms. Alpine," Roger started, a warning in his voice.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Near continued, ignoring her tone.

"When we were working on the Finnegan's Wake paper in my room."

Near twisted his hair around his index finger.

"Where did he go?"

"He told me he wasn't going to do the paper so I told him that I wasn't going to share my grade with him and he left."

"And you know we have cameras outside of the window? We saw you two depart from his room at 10:07pm. However, it looked quite like he was unaware of you following him."

Alpine bit her cheek.

Sure, maybe there had been cameras. And maybe they had gotten all of that on tape. But she was still in a truce with Jasper, and wasn't about to rat him out.

"Okay."

"We followed you into town, where both of you stopped at an old building, where you remained for about five minutes. Then, the car you were being followed in left for the middle school. So you followed it," Near droned.

"Yes."

"What were you doing in that building?"

She stared at the back of his white head.

Near didn't turn around, but continued to ask questions.

"Why did you follow the car?"

She stayed quiet again.

"You assaulted several agents outside the doors of the middle school. Cameras in the school indicate that you did this to allow Mr. Jasper to enter. Why?"

"I'm awfully helpful, aren't I?"

"Quite," Near said, but his voice sounded darker. Alpine resisted the urge to giggle. It was extremely difficult to avoid saying _Shit just got real. _out loud but she didn't think Roger or Near would appreciate that.

"So where is Jasper?" Alpine asked.

Near stopped twisting his hair.

"I believe that was what we were discussing in the first place."

"Please. You don't believe. Of course that's what we were talking about," Alpine scoffed. She gave the back of his head the evil eye. "So, did you figure out what happened in the school? I'd honestly like to know."

"Surveillance cameras in the school showed some kind of confrontation between two people. Through previous investigation, we'd discovered these two people to be Skandar Bouros, who was suspected of being middle-Kira, and Markel Bloch, who was also suspected of being middle-Kira."

Alpine burst out laughing. Markel as middle-Kira. Huh.

Near ignored her and continued.

"In this occurrence, Bouros confirmed that he was in fact middle-Kira. Then Bloch was killed shortly after."

Alpine stopped laughing abruptly.

"What?" she said, not believing her ears. Near turned around and looked at her.

"Markel Bloch was killed by middle-Kira."

Alpine's face was frozen and her hands were stiff at her sides.

"She's…dead? Just like that? How could that happen?"

Near stared at her, making eye contact for the first time. Her own eyes were frosted over with shock.

"A supernatural method known as the Death Note. Her name was written in a Notebook of Death, dropped by a Reaper from its own realm, and she suffered death."

"Are you shitting me?" Alpine spluttered. "Why would I believe something like that?"

Near ignored her question and spoke again.

"After middle-Kira departed, Mr. Jasper entered the school and happened across Bloch. Then he left the school and disappeared."

"And…where is Markel?"

"The SPK are taking care of that as we speak."

"Did you catch middle-Kira?"

"More or less."

"What do you mean?" Alpine said, eyes narrowing.

"It seems that he was killed by a Death Note sometime during the chase. We are confident in the fact that the killings will cease."

"So you're just going to take credit for catching middle-Kira and clean up after the casualty? Like she was just in the way?" Alpine made fists but kept them at her sides, resisting the urge to pummel him. Not long ago, she would've kissed the ground he walked on. But now, weeks later, she was debating throwing a few punches. It wouldn't be difficult. Roger was old and she'd land a few before he took drastic measures and tased her or something.

"Of course not. We are merely taking care of business. We wouldn't want school to resume tomorrow with a dead body in the hallway for them to discover."

"So she's just a dead body? Not the M that figured things out before you did?" Alpine spat.

"M?" Near inquired.

Alpine snorted derisively.

"Don't tell me you didn't even figure out that much. Yeah, that's M. You should ask the SPK whether they remember shooting at us in the school that night." She turned on her heel and left the monitor room before Roger could stop her.

Near reached up and twisted his hair around a finger.

He'd heard Bloch say it to middle-Kira, but he hadn't really believed it. She'd announced nothing of her efforts except that she was M. The rest of the battle had been middle-Kira. And Alpine had said that she had been the one in the school – could her presence there prove that she was M, and in information she had acquired been what had cornered middle-Kira in the end?

He came to the only logical conclusion, which he said quietly aloud.

"Yes."

* * *

The next morning, Alpine walked out of Wammy's House through the front door.

Bentley stopped her at the gate. Alpine paused, unsure of how he'd managed to evade the gatekeeper. Then she saw a body trussed up and lying against the wall. She looked very closely, and was satisfied to see his chest rising and falling.

"Nice," she complimented. "Sometimes I forget that you've been taught how to kill a man with your bare hands."

"How could you forget?" Bentley said, smiling mischievously.

"Well, yesterday you gave yourself a bloody nose while trying to open a container of applesauce."

Bentley scowled, but then looked up again.

"So where are you going?"

"I have to go find Jasper."

"What happened to him?"

Alpine paused and then told him everything. He listened carefully, letting out a few quiet gasps as she mentioned the events in the school, when they were fighting over the file. His face darkened when she got to the part about last night.

"So M was an 11-year-old? And she was killed last night?"

Alpine nodded.

"She wasn't even a Wammy's House student," she said, remembering how avidly opposed to Wammy's House she had been. "But she accomplished what she set out to do...she caught middle-Kira and beat Near to him."

"It's hard to accept that someone on the outside had known about us for so long…and was able to do something like that," Bentley said. "But…wow…a non-Wammy's House student. It sort of nips succession in the bud doesn't it?"

Alpine pursed her lips, puzzled.

"Yeah, I guess so. You don't have to be Near to do what he does…you don't even have to want to be him," she murmured, remembering Markel's words.

And then she realized that Markel had succeeded on another count.

Bentley would certainly relay this story throughout Wammy's House, and they'd all be shocked to hear what kind of person M had been. And suddenly holding the name of L and Near wouldn't be the goal…it'd be doing what they do. Helping people. Solving the cases no one else could solve. M had done it, so why not them?

Alpine nodded at Bentley, who smiled and walked back towards Wammy's House. Alpine waited for a moment longer, then walked over to the gatekeeper and untied him. She walked towards town.

* * *

She stood in the parking lot of the middle school which her face shielded by a baseball hat so she wouldn't be confronted by the nosy administrators who thought they knew everything. She walked around to the side doors, where Jasper had left, according to Near. When the bell had rung, she started to lower herself to the ground to lie on her back to think.

But she stopped, looking straight out past the sidewalk and street and buildings until her gaze settled on a strip of green in the distance.

Alpine took a deep breath, debating. Was that where Jasper would go? Probably. She hadn't checked the attic, but she knew there was no way he'd go there. And something about the distant forest was calling to her.

It took a long time to get past the town outskirts and into the woods. Once she was in the trees, she walked straight for nearly twenty minutes, occasionally calling his name.

There.

He was lying on the ground in the ferns. She panicked for a moment, thinking he was dead, but then she saw him breathing. Her stomach rolled as she saw the pile of vomit by his face. She dropped to her knees and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jasper," she said, and shook him. His eyes cracked open. They settled on her and then slowly shut again. Alpine bit her lip, unsure of what to do. Normally if someone was acting like this she'd stick her face next to theirs and shout things, encouraging them to get up. But she could tell Jasper was comatose with grief…he didn't need loud words. He probably didn't even need tender words (not that she knew how to give them.) So she folded her legs beneath her body and gently put her hand on his back and waited.

* * *

Near lied on the ground, eye level with the puppets. They hadn't moved since early the night before. The M, Jasper, and Alpine puppet were at the toy school, along with the middle-Kira and Shinigami puppet.

Everything was in order. Middle-Kira had been recovered and dealt with. The SPK determined that the Shinigami had returned to the Death Note when both owners were killed.

He pushed the agents and the Alpine-puppet back to Wammy's House. He tipped over the middle-Kira and Shinigami puppet and rolled them to the side. Then he stopped and looked at the M and Jasper puppets. After a brief contemplation, he softly tapped Jasper away from the school. Then he was faced with the dilemma of M.

She was not affiliated with Wammy's House, but it was wrong to leave her beside the school or midway between the two. So he picked it up and pocketed it carefully.

* * *

Alpine and Jasper were frozen there for nearly an hour before he opened his eyes again. He turned over so he wasn't breathing in the awful smell of sick and Alpine was only too happy to wade through the mulch on her knees to the other side of him. She leaned over him, tucking her hair behind her.

"Hey," she said.

He looked up at her and sat up, rubbing his neck. He flinched and started to pick splinters out of his hands violently. Alpine took a deep breath, afraid of saying something that would freak him out. Instead, she gently took one of his hands and helped with the splinters, brushing them out carefully.

After a few minutes, she finally spoke.

"Are you alright?"

He met her eyes. His own were dull. He didn't answer, but he did stand up.

"That night I met her…" Alpine said, avoiding using Markel's name, "…she told me what you guys were doing. And you did it. You guys caught middle-Kira. And I just talked to Bentley. You know that all of the kids are going to understand what she proved." He nodded and started walking back towards town.

"Why did she lie?" Jasper said quietly. Alpine was so surprised to hear him speak that she tripped over a tree branch and he steadied her. She looked at him after she recovered. His eyes were more awake, but his face was severely lined.

"I don't know," Alpine said helplessly. Jasper stared straight ahead and continued walking.

"The SPK had her file. I think that she didn't want to involve me," he said flatly. "Do you think she knew that she would die?"

Alpine didn't think that now was a good time to bring up what Near told her – that middle-Kira had used supernatural means to kill.

"I think…she was prepared to die. I think she was willing to die for what meant the most to her. And I think that she regrets having to leave it to you to figure out," she said unpoetically. But Jasper glanced at her and gave her a small smile.

They walked back into town in companionable silence. Alpine was confused when Jasper started walking back towards Markel's building but he gestured for her to follow him.

"I started to read something from her last night before we left," he said. They climbed up the fire escape ladder and then dropped through the trapdoor into the attic.

It was exactly the same as they had left it last night, but it was different. It didn't know its occupant would never return. Jasper picked up the laptop and opened it. The password box popped up again and Alpine started to walk away respectfully, but Jasper shook his head.

"Stay here. I think she will have something for you too."

He typed in the password and a message window popped up.

_James, _

"Your name is James?" Alpine asked. He nodded and they kept reading.

_I just realized that I don't have any inside joke or funny opening to relate to what is going to be in this message, so I'm really sorry. Haha. Hey, look, I laughed, so you laugh too._

Alpine and Jasper looked at eachother, smiles playing at their lips. They laughed.

_If you're reading this (oh, I just went there) then that probably means either I fucked something up and am not around, or that you were snooping and I forgot to delete this when I came back from kicking middle-Kira's butt. _

_Blech. I'm getting off topic. _

_Basically, I'm really sorry that I did what I did. I was being selfish and I just had to finish what I started. Near's goons got my file from the school because I was stupid and they're going to be showing up any day now. So I went ahead and did it. _

_I have to admit…the plan that I set in motion for catching middle-Kira almost certainly resulted in my death. I was counting on the fact that Near had cameras set up in the school. However I suppose I could've prevented it. It all relied on the fact that Skandar confessed. I knew that if he believed I was M and the only person opposing him, he'd probably monologue and get caught on camera. If I am dead, it means I made a miscalculation. I didn't once stop to think about his killing method, even though it was the key. I suspect that somehow he killed me and managed to get away. Near was right behind him, I hope, or I overestimated him. _

_So, at this point, middle-Kira should be under wraps and you probably hate my guts. But that was only to be expected…_

_Take care of Mello._

_Alpine:_

_Whew. Okay. There's something to be said here as well. _

_I will start with…thanks for not letting that guy shoot me in the school that night. Thank you for making things difficult for Jasper at Wammy's House. But now I hope that you'll be able to kick him into gear. Make sure he doesn't do anything dumb like trip over albino geniuses then watch TV with them. Don't let him break-I-mean-SNEAK into any houses. _

_I am not able to leave a more meaningful message for you because I only knew you for a day or two. But…just know that I think you are completely capable of solving the cases that no one else can solve. You don't even need that from me though. I hope you know already. _

_I want a Sky burial. You know what that is, right? Of course you do. I'd expect nothing less from you two geniuses. _

_Bye, guys,_

_Markel_

_P.S. I'm kidding about the Sky burial. Just don't burn me, please. I've had enough of fire in the past few days. _

Jasper snorted and leaned back, crossing his arms.

"A Sky burial?" Alpine giggled.

"Yeah, that's Markel."

"Uum," Alpine started, now aware of another matter she had to bring up. Jasper noticed her tone and nodded.

"Go ahead."

"The SPK recovered her. I think we should go back to Wammy's House so we can plan her 'Sky burial'."

"Okay." He picked up the laptop and gestured widely. "What should we do about this?"

They looked around at the cluttered attic. Alpine snickered.

"Well, now that we've thoroughly screwed with authority, there will be a bunch of kids just like you. I think they should have a place to sneak out to."

Jasper looked shocked momentarily, then burst out laughing.

"The Wammy's House Dropout-Hideout. Nice."

* * *

_One week later_

* * *

"Yuck. Markel would hate this," Alpine said, pulling at an ugly black dress with lace at the knees. She had a black messenger bag slung over her shoulder.

"Yeah. We should've just left her to the birds of prey," Jasper agreed. They both laughed, looking very bizarre in the mob of black-clad mourners. Jasper was dressed simply, in black as well, but in his hands he held the bowl of Mello the fish.

The school and the entire neighborhood from Markel's supposed home had shown up to pay their respects. Near, Roger, and the SPK had shown up as well, but Jasper could only look at them sideways. Markel wouldn't let something like that phase her.

After her mostly made up service, Jasper and Alpine approached where Markel lay. She was wearing a white dress that she would've gladly let burn, and her hair was braided and adorned with flowers. The only thing Jasper had had a say in – they were purple dahlias. Her dahlia earring was still stained with red.

Alpine bumped his shoulder affectionately, taking Mello from him, and stepping to the side so he could look at her. He glanced around, but didn't really care if anyone saw what he was about to do. He reached down and untucked her hair from around her delicate head and draped it over her shoulder, hiding the earring. Then he reached up and took his unmarked one off. He carefully fixed it to her uncovered ear and stepped back, nodding at Alpine.

She handed Mello back and reached into her bag and pulled out Markel's laptop. She placed it at Markel's side and adjusted it in the folds of her dress a bit.

"Well, now it's perfect," Jasper grinned. "Say bye-bye, Mello."

Mello blublubbed-bye-byes.

Near appeared beside them, accompanied by Roger. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the M puppet – but it was no longer stained with the black light markers. It looked more like her, with a long braid. Near looked up at Jasper, as if in permission, and Jasper nodded. Near placed the puppet beside the laptop and then walked off.

Roger put a hand on Jasper and Alpine's shoulders and smiled at them.

"Are we in trouble?" Jasper asked good naturedly, with a ghost of his other self. Roger chuckled and nodded.

"Yep. But that's okay. You two did well."

"We three," Jasper corrected. Alpine smiled at him.

"Of course," Roger said. He clapped Jasper on the shoulder and went to stand by Near.

Alpine turned back to Jasper.

"So are you going to be okay without your earring?" she teased. "You just told me it was sentimental. You never told me it was about her. So what did it mean?"

"What _did_ it mean?" he repeated.

She nodded.

Jasper smiled and considered his answer.

"Less than it does now."

* * *

**Well...that's all, folks. The end.**

**In case you're wondering: A Sky burial = or ritual dissection, is a funerary practice in Tibet, wherein a human corpse is incised in certain locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements (_mahabhuta_) and animals – especially to predatory birds.  
**


End file.
